Stuff and Things

[liadnan]

So.. I briefly thought that if someone was fool enough not only to log in to, um, adult on-line dating services at a public access terminal, but also to omit to log out properly, they deserved everything that came to them. But, contrary to all appearances, I am a kind man, so I simply logged them out and erased all their details from my mind...

(I used to think I was fairly soft-hearted as lawyers go. But I was once in some last-minute negotiation in the robing room in some High Court DR, with lots of other barristers around. One of them, who I knew from my first six months as a pupil, said to me afterwards "Christ, you're scary." Which I took as a compliment.)

Went to Bath for the nuptials of Jen and Gideon this weekend, and many people were met and a fab time had by all. I know this to be true, for I danced.

I rarely dance, which is a mercy to all concerned.

Slightly concerned that everyone I know appears to be growing up, and I'm still waiting for Stuff to Happen, but there it is. Huge congrats to them both, anyway.

The next morning, having dealt with the acid some inconsiderate git had somehow poured into my skull, I wandered off and round the Baths. Yes, I am my parents' child (and anyway it was raining...) in truth I managed to fit the Abbey and a look at the Royal Crescent as well. It's been a long time since I was in Bath, probably not since my schooldays. But with my parents, both of them school teachers, we spent much of every summer holiday wandering round every minor, as well as major, site of interest in the country, not to mention beyond. And I'm one of the few Londoners I know who regularly plays London tourist round places like the Tower. People seem to fail to get around to visiting the places on their doorsteps.

Finished Oryx and Crake on the train. Good, but flawed, was my view, though I wait for Martin's review with interest. Superb prose as ever but a little more plot development wouldn't have gone amiss, in about the last third of the novel (though I approve of the way it ends).

Comments

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I especially like it when I can inspire mixed feeling of fear and love among those I work with. Sadly my boss, while an excellent manager overall, does not see all the advantages to this approach that I do.

[liadnan]

Not so sure I'm too successful with the love bit... and the fear only works on opponents, and then rarely. But it's a start.

[sshi.livejournal.com]

Personally, I am now firmly convinced that the higher up you go in Bath the harder it rains, the apex of which being the Royal Crescent.

[liadnan]

Well, the heavens opened when I was up there, so your theorem has not been disproved...
Plus there's bugger all in the way of shelter up there.

[sshi.livejournal.com]

No umbrella shops, either.

[liadnan]

Ah well, I have never in my life possessed an umbrella.

[greyarea.livejournal.com]

Oryx and Crake is next-up-but-one for me as well. I know nothing about it at all, which is just the way I like it.

[liadnan]

Interesting book. One of the things that struck me was this... ok, the whole argument about whether or not it's SF is boring rubbish.. it's fiction based on a projection of scientific possibilities, which is clearly SF. *But* if it had been written by someone who works solely in genre, I suspect the plot would have ended differently. Discuss...

Definitely

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

I think this is why quite afew people has described it as bad or old fashioned science fiction when really its science fiction that is unconcerned with the typical genre aspects.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kiki_/]

I am also waiting for Stuff to Happen. I am getting impatient and irritated with myself.

[liadnan]

It'll be like buses you knwo. Four bits of everything come along at once.

[etherealfionna.livejournal.com]

So, do you actually know my mate Brian (http://www.livejournal.com/users/natural20) who was at the same wedding this weekend? He has photos. He also mentioned the dancing. The world is small.

[liadnan]

I don't think so. Jen is ex-TCD and has the ability to Make Emmett Shut Up, allegedly, and they're both afp types, so you've got the whole Dublin/fandom/geek thing going on, so not surprising if you have fairly close connections to people who were there (Emmett wasn't).

[sshi.livejournal.com]

Ah, but you do, though - you were sitting beside him on Sunday in the pub :>

[liadnan]

Oh.. in that case I misread the pictures...