Mission for today: Buy new computer. Mission not entirely successful. I have a new computer, but unfortunately we underestimated what kind of power supply required. Mission for next week: Buy bigger power supply. The graphics card demands it!

   My old computer will just have to Not Die for another week. Come on baby, we believe in you.

   In other news, this looks pretty much awesome:

Sci-Fi in the world of Greek Legend! In ancient times, the spacefaring Hellenes and their Gods defeated an empire that threatened the entire galaxy. Hellas is an exciting fusion of high drama, action-adventure, romance, mythology-infused space opera and science fiction.

   Seeing the family for dinner tonight didn't exactly pan out. For reasons that were partly my fault, partly unforeseen complications from assembling new computer, and partly the impossibility of finding parking in Newtown, we didn't make it. There may be some drama as a result (although probably not from my sister whose birthday it was last week – she's not the drama type). ooops.

   The Bank Job was a lot of fun! More boobs than I was frankly expecting, but heck – it is set in the 70s, I hear there were lots of boobs back then.

   Today was Linda's birthday, so I took the day off work and we went to the zoo. I haven't been since 1997.

   It was a great day for the zoo &nfash; sunny and warm, and not too crowded. We arrived at about eleven. A lot of the animals were kinda sleepy at that time of day, with some notable exceptions – the otters, for example, were quite lively and boisterous. The red pandas seemed to be running in laps of thei habitats. Many of the animals were being fed. And then there was the tiger, who was lying around near the front of its enclosure... raising its head every few minutes to look at the glass (Mrrrm, still there) and make eye contact with the potential prey children clustered there.

   What really surprised me was the huge population of ducks at Taronga Zoo. There were ducks everywhere – in various wetlands enclosures as well as just wandering around. “I think it's some kind of duck” was probably the statement that we uttered most today.

   The zoo is quite hilly so we got some decent exercise too. Much more walking than I would normally expect on a day off work.

   On Saturday we went to Morris' Egyptian Restaurant to celebrate Kaytee's birthday. It was established in 1988 and claims to be Sydney's only authentic Egyptian restaurant (I imagine that there have been others that were less successful). It's located just around the corner from me (445 New Canterbury Rd, Dulwich Hill) and I had been meaning to give it a try.

   Booking was fairly painless. I had been unable to reach the restaurant by telephone during the day (it opens from 6pm) so I dropped by on my way home from work, had a chat with Morris, and pencilled in a 7pm table for about twelve people. Then on Friday night I phoned to confirm the exact numbers. Easily done.

   The restaurant is not large but it has an attractive decor and did not feel cramped. The Egyptian motif is not overdone - there are certainly masks of Tutankhamun painted on the wallls, but the warm colours are well chosen, and you're not tripping over statuary. We had a table for eleven (plus two small people), and I expect that the restaurant could have seated up to eighteen without much difficulty.

   We chose the banquet, which starts with breads and dips followed by lamb, beef, and chicken kebabs (with a vegetarian option) and cost $35 per head. I think that you have to be more of a foodie than me to really appreciate the distinctions between Egyptian and similar cuisines - I enjoyed the meal but found it very much like a Turkish restaurant. It was more satisfying than I expected; by the time we got to dessert (baclava, Turkish delight, strong black coffee or tea) I was basically done.

   Being a Saturday night, there was naturally some entertainment in the form of a belly dancer. She was quite good if you like that kind of thing, and the exercise has clearly been beneficial - I was envious of her flat stomach.

   The downside to our evening was unfortunately the waitress. It was her first night, and I felt that she tried too hard to be bubbly and quirky at the expense of being efficient and professional. She had to be asked three times for a glass of water (the first two times she passed that request on to another waitress, who was busy with her own diners), and while the kitchen was fast she was a little awkward arranging dishes where people could reach them. None of this was a big problem, but I did envy the next table with the quiet, efficient family waitress.

   The bill included corkage of $1 per person, which seems reasonable - except that most of the people at the table were drinking soft drink and water only, but still got charged corkage. I'm not sure if this was a restaurant policy or an inobservant waitress.

   All in all, it was a nice change of pace for Kaytee's birthday, with some lovely dinner companions. Thankyou to everyone who came out with us on Saturday night!

   With an expectation that the various wrinkles could be smoothed out in future, I would visit Morris' Egyptian Restaurant again.

•

( ... can be seen under the cut )

   Piccon is a Facebook application created by Greg and Lucy. Good, clean fun! (...so far)

   Reading a good Alan Moore interview takes hours whilst an interview with another writer might take minutes.

   I’ve seen the first half of this interview before, but I ran across the link again tonight and it’s worth refreshing one’s memories. Moore has some very insightful things to say about writing, language, and working with other people.

   Yesterday and today there were a lot more Catholics in the Cross. I find it ironic that a place called "the Cross" seems like an inappropriate place to find Catholics. Or is it ironic that it's ironic? Anyway. On my way back from lunch I walked past a large African group near the fountain, with flags and a couple of drums. About an hour later I heard them walking down the street outside our branch, singing in harmony and rapping on their drums. It was quite musical, and I'd be a hypocrite if I objected to other people singing as they walk along the street. If I can sing Michael Jackson then let them have their hymns.

   For awhile after that Excitable Girl sang "Hallelujah, hallelujah" as she went about her tasks. Excitable Girl isn't Christian, and I'm not sure that she even knows what hallelujah means. It was just a nice sound that she worked into her usual chatter.

   Apparently today there was a small gay pride parade. I didn't see it but I did hear horns tooting and somebody calling out "Yoo hoo!" – I kid you not. Anyway, I approve of gay pride parades as much as I approve of spontaneous musical processions of pilgrims, for what that's worth. Anything that adds a bit of colour is alright by me.

   The main impact that WYD has had on me so far is that we're doing a lot of foreign currency exchanges at the moment, and it really hammers home how weak the U.S. dollar is right now. The American tourists seem kinda depressed about it, but everybody else with USD just shrugs when they get back less in AUD than they handed me in USD. Even the pound isn't looking as great as it used to.

   I saw an unusual number of Americans yesterday, a reminder that WYD has begun and that our daily routines will be thrown into turmoil such as we have not seen since APEC. Well, possibly. APEC didn't bother me much (road closures just made it quiet at work). I was late yesterday but WYD probably didn't cause the signal failure at Martin Place. Unless pilgrims were getting into the wiring?

   I'm not interested in any WYD events but I'm not protesting them either. To be honest I feel a bit alienated by both "sides". The Catholic Church has little relevance for me and is intolerant of my beliefs. Some of the protests I've read also strike me as religiously intolerant. Archbishop Pell and Richard Dawkins are both offensive in my book. Unfortunately, I doubt that an I'll-Let-You-Draw-Your-Own-Conclusions March would draw many people, nor would Why Don't You Think About It Day get government funding.

   The new powers granted to the police are pretty bizarre, even moreso than those given for APEC. I can only imagine that if we had the Sydney Olympics again the police would have the power to declare martial law if an insufficient number of people wore Sydney Olympic t-shirts or bought plush kangaroo mascots. NSW State Government: "Hey, we won't act to fix police morale, attrition, or reputation, but here's some new laws to fight those damn hippies!" I feel like the only sane political party in NSW is the Greens.

   At least the pilgrims that I've met are universally friendly and happy to be here. That more than you can say about most people in the Cross.

   Despite being so close to Darlinghurst Road and the Cross, our branch gets fewer of the "weirdos and crazies" than you might expect. I'm told that it used to be quite bad, but then there was a run of criminals paying homeless and addicts to "borrow" their ATM cards... group security detected that those accounts were being used for money laundering and fraud, and closed them. And so the people who used to come by daily to plead for money or make threats or throw chairs had their Centrelink payments go to another bank.

   But now it's really cold. More people are trying to stay at shelters, and there isn't enough room. Centrelink payments don't go as far - not that they go very far when it's warm. We're seeing desperate and mentally ill people come into the bank whose accounts were closed years ago, demanding money that they don't have. Maybe they're deluded and have convinced themselves that there is thousands in a non-existant account; maybe they're trying to get lucky. It doesn't really make a difference. If you don't have an account or any money in your account, we can't give you somebody else's.

   There are certainly people who refuse to take no for an answer. Shout that we're lying, stealing from them; threaten to call the police or the "Royal Commission"; or simply get incoherent and refuse to leave. The newer girls feel a bit intimidated but you learn to cope pretty fast. One guy on Friday just locked eyes on me and repeated "So this is the way it's going to be." Yeah, pretty much.

   It's better than working in a service station, at least. We get more crazies but now I've got a bulletproof glass screen, more fellow staff as backup if required, and nothing for them to throw. And sometimes our other customers chase them out. Most of our customers like us, even if they're a bit crazy themselves. We're fine with that. We usually make an effort for all of our customers, regardless of who they are. Some people just need the kind of help we can't provide.

   ( My Weekend Overall )

   Some more detail about matters of particular interest:

Accommodation

   James H, Rachel, cryx and I all stayed in a place called Minto Student House (and apparently another guy I know was also there, although I never ran into him). It was fairly cheap and quite nice, really - certainly better than any of the traveller accommodation where I work near Kings Cross. If I'd had more money to throw around it might have been fun to stay at a hotel, but frankly this place met all my needs, was picturesque and clean, and conveniently close by. I'd stay there again.

Dealer/Exhibitor Area

   There was certainly a lot to look at with quite a few shops and gaming companies set up here, selling all sorts of gamer or geek stuff. I spent some money here, but not ridiculous amounts - less than $40 on miniatures, and $11 on cool replica fantasy coins called Campaign Coins (http://www.campaigncoins.com). They're made from metal (some kind of medium-weight alloy), are designed to represent four distinct cultures, and are minted in denominations of from 1 to 1000. I thought they looked darn cool so I bought a handful.

   If you came to the convention cashed up and wanting to spend, there was no shortage of ways for you to throw around your money - and lots of bargains.

The Convention Center

   I have to admit that attending GenCon at the Brisbane Convention Centre did add a feeling of legitimacy to the event that no university campus would have matched. A campus or high school is fantastic for smaller cons that focus on roleplaying games, but doesn't work if you want to have a decent dealer area. Accessibility of the venue by public transport was apparently very good (although I don't know personally, we just walked).

   In the areas next to GenCon there were other events - a poultry conference of some sort, the awards ceremoney for a Queensland university, and a "Living With Diabetes" expo. That one I found quite strange, for personal reasons. I found myself wondering, are there diabetes games and events that I have not been informed about? Possibly a theme park? Hey guys, I wanted to say, here's a hint about living with diabetes: it sucks. I'm not going to charge you admission for that one!

   I also wanted to steal a chicken outfit from the poultry conference if they had one, if only so that I could also join in with the following:

Costumes

   There were lots of these. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing costumed people walking around. From the Stormtroopers collecting for kids' charities, to slightly creepy Klingons, dozens of kids in anime costumes, a Captain Janeway, a slavegirl-bikini Princess Leia (she got plenty of attention; lots of skin showing), and Lara Croft, who got even more attention. Even though I am not geeky enough to instantly recognise Lara Croft (I initially thought she was some kinda Jedi) the silver catsuit on a healthy, attractive woman was embarrassingly distracting. It's hard to look away... :/

   Having seen the costume events first hand rather than just photos on a web forum, I have now decided that I am in favour of them, and indeed strongly considering doing something like that in future. Amd here's the thing: I don't believe that GenCon actually promoted this activity anywehre near as much as they could have. It could really have been a major part of the convention and been very successful; instead it was a haphazardly-promoted and run activity that nonetheless added a lot of fun and spectacle to the event.

Celebrities and Special Guests

   I didn't see any of these, although a few of them seemed really appealing. With only two days there, I simply didn't have time. It's another factor in my thoughts that if GenCon Oz happens again next year, I'd want to go for the entire four days.

   I was signed up for Tracy Hickman's Extreme Dungeon Mastery seminar, but skipped it due to...

Miniature Painting

   There was only one guy doing any kind of hobbyist activity at the entire convention - a medium-sized booth ("The Alcove") with one guy from Ballarat representing Reaper Miniatures, two tables to sit at, and two tables for his paints and free figures. cryx and I wandered over thinking that we'd paint for a couple of hours until our next scheduled event, found illdrinn already there with some of her friends, and discovered that miniatures painting is a lot like a knitting circle for geeks. We stayed for over four hours, chatting and dabbing away with tiny brushes, exhanging tips and making approving noises at each others' efforts.

   People walking past saw this going on and wanted to join in, but there just weren't enough chairs and brushes for everybody who was interested. More miniatures activities, more craft activities (costume making, for example!), I think would have been a resounding success.

   Many of us chose the same free mini to paint (a floating woman with long dress and billowing hair), and it was interesting to see the different interpretations. The "official" miniature is a ghostly spirit; illdrinn painted hers as a character from Talisman, mine was a wintry air sorceress, cryx painted a gothic redhead with a cloak of midnight blue with stars, and another woman went with forest greens. (I still have cryx's figures on my desk, she'll need to pick them up at some point.)

Roleplaying

   I didn't actually do any roleplaying at the convention. There just wasn't enough time in the two days that I was there to search for something to play, and it's a devil of a time to find what you might like to pre-schedule yourself into using the GenCon Oz website. Yeah... that website definitely needs improvement. The one game that I did register to play was cancelled after it was supposed to have started.

   Really, I didn't go to GenCon Oz to roleplay, and I think that lots of people who went primarily for that reason were disappointed. The organisation of the event simply didn't make it easy to find games that you were actually interested in and play as many of them as possible. pollyanna_n has some specific criticisms of the approach that GenCon Oz took to roleplaying that I think are very good and need to be taken into account.

HeroClix

   There wasn't a huge turnout for HeroClix at GenCon - I remember a lot more at the Nationals when they were held in Sydney a few years back. But I got to play against new people, which is always nice, and everybody got a lot of prizes and free figures. Seriously, the value of everything that James H took home would probably have covered most if not all of his expenses for the entire convention!

   I jumped into in a "side tournament" for people who didn't make the finals on Saturday night (I'd finally finished paiting about the same time the side tournament started) and came in second, being finally beaten for first place in the very last action of the very last game! Apparently I had made a nice impression on people and been a good sport during those games, because I also won the Fellowship prize (a factory sealed set of the Supernova expansion).

   The main tournament on Sunday saw me get off to a strong start, then hit a snag when faced with a team that my team wasn't really abe to cope with, and then collapse due to some consistently below-average dice rolling. Well, it happens. I still came in seventh overall, and took home a few prizes. And it was good to put some faces to the names that I've seen online, and build up a few more connections to HeroClix players in other states.

Karaoke

   I don't know how it was organised or what exactly was going on, but I saw it listed as an event and if I'd had more time... oh man you know I would have been there.   :P

   People I know who I saw at GenCon: James and Rachel (obviously), illdrinn, Jo, Adam from Wizards, Damon at the Games Paradise stall, Paul from Good Games, Philippa and Dave, Kyla Ward, Joe Italiano from Alternate Worlds, the-other-Joe, Belinda, Neil and Cos (with infant), and I'm sure I've forgotten somebody.

   All in all, I had a good weekend. I now think that I should have tried to get more time off so that I could go for all four days - I didn't run out of things to do, and it would have been great to socialise some more with illdrinn and meet her Brisbane friends. I would definitely be interested in going back if there's another GenCon Oz next year.

   This will necessarily be a capsule entry. More detail may follow later, if you like.

   GenCon was great fun. Two days was good, but I could have easily spent four days there. The venue was decent. Running into people from Sydney was cool. The stalls were interesting. The tournaments were challenging and fun. My friends were champions (literally). Our accomodation was nice. My travelling companion was utterly fantastic.

   Now I'm back, I've quickly found a place for most of my Stuff (falsely_accused still has much of it in his suitcase!). My room is a mess. My uniform is ironed. My eyes is tired.

   Bed now.