Beer And Burny Dead Things

It must be something about collecting students together- the first hints of warm, cloudless days and all the cooking goes al fresco. That's right, it's Barbeque Season. :)

Thursday I offered to help Vicki pack in preparation for her house-move at the weekend. We dodn't do a very god job- rather than actually getting anything into boxes or down the stairs (which are like the North face of the Eiger) we ended up looking at various cool things she found and watching Knightmare until Vicki declared that she needed sleep. I could see the writing on the wall already...

Friday ended up as an impromptu pub crawl which saw us ending up back at Park Road, where we consumed random bits of the drinks cabinet. Vicki and I had earlier gone shopping to get stuff to bulk out her cajun chicken into a four-person meal- impressive, as there was probably only enough to feed one originally. However, we also proved the old adage of never going shopping for food when you're hungry- we ended up with a basket full of apple turnovers, toffee crisps and port. We consumed the port between us before going out, possibly half the reason Vicki passed out in short order on return... ;)

Saturday was a bit of a change of scene- over to Leo & Lisa's in Nottingham for the next instalment of Leo's Shadowrun game. We'd decided beforehand to retire my character, Soldat, to give me the chance to gradually bow out of player-charactering in favour of GMing. She got a good Blackhawk-Down-style death, holding up a platoon of mercenaries with accurate sniper-fire so the rest of the team could escape. Unfortunately that only took about an hour and a half, meaning between about half-three and nine I was essentially sitting around and watching the scenery change. Finally got my new character- Union Jackal, one of my favourites as an NPC for quite a while, and it's a breath of fresh air to actually play him for a change- into the game later than I would have liked, especially as he has a huge amount of useful knowledge and a rolodex full of contacts that would have been invaluable to the other PCs at a number of points throughout the afternoon. Leo's a great GM from the point of view of plot-writing and atmosphere, but his time management does leave quite a bit to be desired. My ire at this was compounded when I later found out that Vicki had ended up having to pack her stuff and move it downstairs on her own- I could have been doing something useful with the afternoon rather than sitting around waiting.

In any case, Graeme and I got back into Loughborough around midnight and grabbed dinner from Subway- surprisingly good. I'd intended to grab a pizza on the way through town, but the smell inside Subway reminded me of Shoarma bars back in Holland and I decided I had to try some food from there. The baguette was pretty damned delish. Gah, I have fallen to the Dark Side! ;)
Sunday morning I ended up offering to help Vicki unpack at the other end, and it was probably a good thing I did. Her new place is about ten minutes around the corner from ours, and by the time I got there they were facing the fact that Ben, one of the previous tenants, had left the windows open to get some fresh air into the place, and Vicki's new room's door had slammed shut. It's Yale-locked, and the key was broken off in it. Great start to the morning, but it gets better. Ben decided to try and climb in through the open window via the top of the garden shed- did I mention this was a first floor window?- and went through the shed roof, cutting both his wrists, twisting his ankle and possibly breaking his toe. While his injuries didn't appear too bad, he started going into shock and so Vicki's mother had him rushed to hospital. In the end we ended up borrowing a stepladder from one of the neighbours and I ended up climbing in through the window, via the hole Ben had created. ;) We eventually got everything moved in, including an Ikea wardrobe Vixel had acquired from Bee- though we had to take the doors off it to get it upstairs...

It was just as well, really, that LilAndy was having his leaving do that evening, as I think both of us needed some R&R after that. ;) While Vicki attempted to unpack a little I headed over to Sainsburys to grab booze (more Otima port for Vicki and I, beer for Ed and Graeme) and food (steak and sausages for Ed and Graeme, swordfish/marlin steaks for Vix/I). It was discovered that barbequed marlin steaks are doubleplusgood.

As the night rolled in Graeme headed back to Derby- last time he'll have to do that as he officially moves in this coming weekend- and following a jug of Black Russian Vicki and I ended up crashing back to hers to watch Phantom Of The Opera. Probably just as well that we did, given the photos of the rest of the night which we have since seen. ;)

The swordfish hadn't been eaten, so I decided that should be grilled on the Monday. I'd originally planned to marinade it for an hour or so and feed Ed the remaining steak, however some friends from home Ed was expecting turned up early. As such I threw together a sausage casserole for them, which apparently went down rather well. I'm not sure exactly what I put in the swordfish marinade, but it bloody worked, and in a flash of inspiration I ended up frying it (it was full of chopped onions) and serving it as a side dish, leading to my single activation of the smoke alarm this year (forgot the extractor fan) and a damned fine meal. We then relocated to the pub for the usual Monday night beerage and a final sendoff for LilAndy.

Tuesday was the next barbeque of the season- Chris and Steph's leaving do. Vicki and I had decided to do teriyaki steak skewers, but being short of skewers this was altered to (more simple) teriyaki steaks. I grabbed some necessaries and headed over to her place after work- her new abode is decidedly more convenient, as Park Road was miles from anywhere, I envisage parties on the horizon- where we marinaded steak before heading back towards the party.

Of course, it wasn't that simple. Just before we left Ben warned us there was a storm moving in, which we only really noticed on stepping outside. By the time we got as far as ours, it was just beginning to rain, and we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and dived into ours to fry the steaks instead. Not a moment too soon, the rain was torrential and the lightning both frequent and close- one bolt couldn't have come down more than a few gardens away. Thus we ended up watching movies- Spy Game and Ronin, both great flicks I bought last week- and consuming our barbeque supplies along with Matt and Ed.

Not to break the habit of a lifetime, it seems the rest of the week will be filled with cookery and alcofrol consumption before Graeme moves in at the weekend and all hell breaks loose. ;)

Countdown: 73 days until next NL holiday. :D

Revealed

Some readers may know that, over the past couple of months, I've been working on an RPG background/ruleset. I started doing this for a couple of reasons, the mainmost one being that I wanted to play something other than Shadowrun every now and again, especially after the intensive GMing I'd been doing over the months beforehand and both my players and I being sceptical about the new rules edition due out later this year.

I decided I wanted a cyberpunk-style game, but not set too far in the future that modern technology would have been rendered obsolete. I wanted a cybernetic edge, but I didn't want to have a huge set of rules necessary to make it usable. I wanted to use the Silhouette Core rules system for its speed of play and its emphasis on cinematic action, but I wanted to give my players plenty of choice and freedom in how to play. And so I set about creating a world I liked.

What I came up with took the modern world and gave it a bit of a shake, threw in some nanites and mecha, sprayed it black and chrome and gave it a bit of an anime feel. So far I think it's going well- and all that's really left to do before it's play-ready is work up an equipment catalogue and write datasheets for a few paramilitary vehicles. Here's a bit of a teaser-databurst to give a little more info...

---------------------
REVELATION 13
‘…And they worshipped the Beast, saying “Who is like the Beast? Who is able to make war with him?”’

Welcome to the year 2017. This is the panorama of the endtimes, where shadowy multinational agencies deploy commandos for corporate espionage, where nanomachines flow in our veins to either make us superhuman or tear us apart from the inside, where political activists make their policies heard with the chatter of weapons-fire, where artificial intelligences are an endangered species denied the right to exist. And you’re in the thick of it, working for any number of monolithic organisations with carefully-hidden agendas. You’re armed to the teeth with blades, guns, explosives and powered battlesuits, but it may not matter a damn- the most dangerous weapon in the world today is information...

Revelation 13 is an RPG setting using the Silhouette Core rules system, placing players into a nightmare near-future where nanotechnology has gone rampant and information is the most precious commodity on sale. From the dark rabbit-warren alleys of Shanghai’s New Island Slums to the glittering arcologies of Olympus City, from the nanoplague-contaminated ruins of Old Seattle to the scorching heat of the North African Contested Zones, powerful organisations clash in a silent, hidden conflict with each other and the very nature of mankind.

Themes: Governmental corruption/decay, rise in corporate power, nanotech gone rampant, secret societies manipulating current events, invisible conflicts fought on a global scale, technology-based terrorism, emergent intelligences testing exactly what it means to be human.

Inspirational Material:
Video Games: Beneath A Steel Sky; Deus Ex I/II; Oni; Soldier Of Fortune II; System Shock II
Anime/Manga: Armitage III; Appleseed; Dominion; Full Metal Panic; Gasaraki; Ghost In The Shell; Zaion
Books: Neuromancer/Count Zero/Mona Lisa Overdrive; Virtual Light/Idoru/All Tomorrow’s Parties (William Gibson); Snow Crash; The Diamond Age (Neal Stephenson)
Movies & TV: Blade Runner; Enemy Of The State; Hard Boiled; James Bond series; Johnny Mnemonic; Kiss Of The Dragon, Mission Impossible; The Rock; Sneakers; Spy Game; xXx
Real-World: Kowloon Walled City
Other RPGs: CP2020; Jovian Chronicles; Shadowrun
---------------------

If everything goes to plan, I hope to finalise the rules and suchlike over the next couple of weeks, so that I can get a printed copy of everything before I leave this job. After that, it'll be time for a little playtesting, methinks... :D

Once the rules are done, it'll all be converted to PDF and put up on EighthAngel as well, just for a good measure- so if you like what you see here, watch this space for the rest...

Land Of Opportunity

It's been a while since I ranted about anything but myself, and while left to my own devices just now I started thinking- always a bad thing. But considering it's half the point of this Blog, here goes...

Consider, just for a second, this planet. Consider the labyrinthine cities across the globe, the loglo of Tokyo and the street cafés of any European city. Consider the rolling plains of Africa, the frozen vistas of Siberia, the cloud-wreathed peaks of the Himalayas and the parched salt flats of the middle US. Consider the Sistine Chapel, the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids of Egypt. Consider the alien, uncharted depths of the oceans. Consider the surface of the Moon or Mars and the vastness of space beyond. Is it not humbling? Do you not, when you stop to think of these things, feel as if you are missing something? I don't think one can feel anything else. But what do the vast majority of the world do about it? Nothing.

That's right. On our very doorsteps are a thousand experiences we've never had, a hundred thousand sights we'll never see. Yet we, who could at any time turn around and open our eyes, do nothing. We sit, blinkered, in our own small world and follow paths that lead nowhere. Every day I see people who wake up, brush their teeth, work eight hours in a grey-painted office under the light of fluorescent tubes and computer monitors, acheiving nothing, then go home, eat bland food and watch soap operas until they fall asleep and repeat the cycle. We live in an anthill at the peak of a mountain and yet we never once stop to appreciate the view as opposed to carrying biomass back to the hive.

Every one of us has a limited period of time on this planet, an insignificant fraction in the grand scheme, and we squander that time. We lead dull, sheltered, uninteresting lives doing jobs that serve no greater purpose and we take no time to appreciate the world around us that we'll never get a chance to again. Every moment we have is precious, and we should be using it to its fullest so that, when our time is finally up, we can say to ourselves that the time we had was well-spent. I don't want to be a sheep that spends my life punching data into a machine and see nothing but the metaphorical shadow-plays on the cave-wall- I want to turn around and look out of the cave.

In short, life is a collection of opportunities, each of which is only offered to us once. Each time we ignore one, for whatever reason, we won't get that chance again. Opportunities are to be seized, not seen, recognised, agonised over and then ignored and forgotten in favour of the status quo. So I give all readers of this Blog a challenge: Seize an opportunity today, whetever it may be, because if you can seize one, maybe the others, the more life-changing ones are also within your grasp.

Meanwhile, Back In Gotham City...

It occurs to me I haven't done an update post on here for... at least a week, maybe more. I could take the easy option and say that nothing of note had happened, but that would be just that- too easy, and more to the point untrue.

Last Thursday was Rob's leaving do, held at The Swan and one of the town's myriad Indian restaurants. Funnily enough it's the first Indian meal I've actually gone out for since coming to Loughborough. In any case, the evening started by sharing half a bottle of Port with Vicki before the meal. The meal itself was pretty damned tasty, and couldn't have been to send off a better bloke.

The evening was rounded off with a few drinks at the Swan In The Rushes (which apparently has Leffe on tap for the season, which is good) before heading back to Park Road (I'd ended up carrying most of Vicki's stuff on account of her not having a bag or pockets) for impromptu TV-age- specifically, episodes of Neverwhere and Doctor Who. A good night was had by all.
I managed about three hours sleep before the weather, insomnia and illness combined to turn me into death warmed up by the time my alarm rang. A quick crawl out of bed to deactivate it and an email to the office, and I took the day off sick.

A day off was just what I needed- chance to relax. With Pete gone and Ed in wind-down after finishing his last bits of work, the house was rather quiet- of course I know that won't and will never last, so I made the most of it by consuming Lemsips and recharging my metaphorical batteries before the now regular fixture of Friday night movies and chatting until the small hours of the morning.

Saturday we collected Charlie and Vicki from town and proceeded to ransack Sainsburys for the ingredients of one of Vicki's culinary masterpieces. Her original idea was to do some sort of chicken-in-port thing, but that fell by the wayside in favour of a considerably easier lemon chicken. Though it involved the near-destruction of the kitchen (though admittedly, given the size of our kitchen and the amount of stuff in it, so can making a bowl of breakfast cereal), the meal was wonderbaar. I have had to grudgingly accept that Vicki and I are probably as good as each other on the cooking front. The Saturday party broke up slightly after dawn, and was followed on Sunday afternoon- once we'd had a little sleep- by a few drinks in town and watching Batman Begins- a stonking film let down only by the current weather being waaay too hot to be cooped up in an non-air-conditioned fleapit like the Curzon.

Monday saw a change from the usual pace of our week in that we ended up at Pete and Shellie's place for a dancemat-and-movie party. Before that Vicki turned up on our doorstep (she's here more than the actual tenants, I swear!) for consumption of Black Russians and watching Equilibrium. I do like that film- all the good combat scenes of The Matrix but with a decent plot and good acting behind it. Wednesday was the new Friday, with Vicki once again invading our kitchen to make Sukiyaki steak noodles (absolutely gorgeous, possibly better than the lemon chicken) before the world and his wife arrived to watch Gladiator and Family Guy. Another pitcher of Black Russian was consumed- my poor, poor liver! But, as with the previous nights, a great time amplified by even better company.

Yesterday I got the day off again- it was the annual all-staff meeting which, given recent changes in the directorship, was held in Cheltenham and was an all-day affair. I managed to talk my manager into releasing me from it on the grounds that I'm only here for three more weeks and thus could spend my time more productively elsewhere. I spent much of it in bed. ;)

In the evening I offered to help Vicki pack- having seen the state of her room I realised what a big job it's going to be, and given the fact that her stairs are like the North face of the Eiger I figured it'd be a better idea to help out rather than just heckle on MSN. We got sod-all done in the end- both of us mainly just looked at the mounds of stuff and wondered where to start. It's one of the reasons I hate moving- I have far too much stuff to be easily relocated between houses. Hell, the fridge alone causes enough problems. In the end we endded up watching a documentary on the London Underground and a couple of eps of Knightmare before Vixchan decided sleep would be a better idea. Assuming Andy's farewell barbeque doesn't go ahead, I can see a similar night of festivities ahead...

Song of the day: BYOB by System Of A Down; the new album's not as much of a cancer-cure as everyone makes it out to be, but it certainly has some incredbly good moments on it.

Countdown: 78 days until next NL holiday. :D

Introspection

Originally written 21 June 2005, 1530 BST

One of my favoured challenges used to be to justify one's existence, on the spot, in under thirty seconds. It's been quite a while since I did so, and I'm not sure these days if I could. Taking a critical look at myself, there's not much to write home about. I've got an average-level degree in a subject that serves no real useful purpose. I'm in a dead-end job, due to finish three weeks from now which will most likely see me dumped unceremoniously into the depths of unemployment. I don't have anything special about me, nothing at which I really excel to call my forté. Sure, I can cook, I can write and I can GM, but not to any particular standard. It's not like I'm going to bring about world peace or cure cancer through writing books and RPGs or making tiramisu.

So, in essence, what do I have to offer the world? Nothing. I'm another face in the crowd, another spear-thrower left-of-centre, as Pete once put it. Eminently forgettable. The only real reason I'm still here in Loughborough- and, I am reminded, in a year's time this will have been the place I have called home for the longest part of my life- is that I don't want to leave my friends again. We've had a number of departures recently- Rob and Chris have both left, Andy's counting the days, Ed's only around for a couple more weeks and King has taken a step out of the limelight (in some ways a departure as well) and it's reminding me that my reason for staying here is so very, very temporary in itself. If it hadn't been for this damned IT job which I now know never really existed, I'd probably be gearing up to leave for Japan right around now, and a significant portion of me- including a chunk of the part that cries at the thought of losing friends again- is wondering how I could have possibly made the decision to stay. The world would continue to turn if I did go, and six months down the line my face would be as much a fading memory as those of the friends I haven't seen since we parted ways.

Why am I sitting here moping, writing such a miserable entry as this? Aside from, as the title states, probably being a little too introspective at the moment, I figure it's mostly the job-hunt. I noticed an advert go up for another clerical position within our area office, and jumped at writing up an application form for it. However, earlier today the temp from the office in question came past on her way to collect the required disclosure form and I realised that, like the other positions I've gone for recently here, the interview is just for show, a mask of due process on turning an incumbent temporary member of staff into a permanent one. I'm in two minds about handing in the form now, as I know that the job will almost certainly go to the other person whatever I say or do.

I'm pissed off at the fact that it's so hard to get a decent job, and that those I could get are all dead-ends with nowhere to go from them except to more of the same. And I wish- fervently- that I could work out a justification for the choices I've made and the person I am that doesn't sound hollow when I look back at it. I keep thinking 'Maybe I should just go', but I know that would cause more problems in the long run- as much as, every now and again, the idea of upping and leaving in short order appeals to me, I know that letting go of one branch without getting a firm grip on another would lead to a fall. Part of me doesn't want to leave, part of me doesn't want to stay, part of me holds on to the past and the present and part of me refuses to look at anything but the future.

However, after all of that I can (to an extent) justify my existence. The only thing really keeping me in any one place is my circle of friends, the greatest people in the world. When my friends are happy, so am I. And thus, my raison d'etre is to keep my friends happy. It's as noble and rewarding a calling as any other, in my book.

Addendum: I was in a right state when I wrote this yesterday, though in an example of the theme running through it, an unrelated comment from Vicki before I could post it cheered me up immensely- thanks Vixel! Though I decided at the time not to post it, I reconsidered overnight on the grounds that the thoughts were honest at the time. I'm happier now (and have decided to put in the application on the grounds that I know I shit all over the other candidate in IT skills), which goes to prove that my decision to stay here and the reasons for it may well have been the right choice after all.

Haagse Hapjes

Continuing my series of interesting food ideas displayed on here, I recently came across recipes for Dutch Bitterballen and Vlammetjes. These bite-size snacks are commonly served as bar-food or side-dishes, and are pretty damned tasty (though Vlammetjes, literally 'little flames' can be incredibly spicy). The original recipes were in Dutch, so I've translated as best I can- your mileage may well vary...

VLAMMETJES

Ingredients
10 Spring Roll Pastry Sheets
500g Minced Beef
5sp Sambal
Salt & Pepper
1tsp Vetjin (flavour enhancer- I think MSG is a passable substitute)
1sp Garlic Powder
1sp Ketjap Manis (Indonesian Soy Sauce)
Oil (for Deep-frying)
2 Eggs (for sealing)

Method
Cut Pastry squares into quarters, then each quarter into two triangles for a total of 80.
Combine the mince with the other ingredients.
Roll 80 meatballs. Place one in each triangle, then smear a little egg around the edges. Fold the triangle closed so it's still a triangle. Deep-fry in oil until brown.


BITTERBALLEN

Ingredients
4tbsp Butter
250g ground beef or veal
2 carrots, finely diced
1 onion, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper
1tsp Grated Fresh Nutmeg
1tbsp fresh lemon juice
2tbsp parsley, finely chopped
5tbsp flour
1 cup beef stock or milk
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp. water
Oil (for Deep-frying)

Method
Heat one tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over moderate heat and cook the meat, carrots, and onions until the meat is browned and the carrots are tender. Drain the meat in a colander, then place in a mixing bowl. Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, lemon juice, and parsley and stir to combine. Set the meat mixture aside. Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over moderate heat and stir in the flour to make a roux. Cook this for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the beef stock/milk. Continue heating, stirring constantly, until the sauce boils and becomes quite thick. Combine the sauce with the meat mixture, stirring to combine them thoroughly, and chill this mixture for at least two hours in the refrigerator, until it has become solid. When the mixture has solidified, roll it into balls about 1 inches in diameter, using your hands. Roll the balls in the bread crumbs, then in the egg and water mixture, then in the bread crumbs again. Fry a few at a time in a deep fryer with at least 2 inches of oil at 190 degrees C until golden (about 2 to 3 minutes). Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.


Both these recipes should be served to a large number of friends in a relaxed environment with liberal quantities of good European lager close to hand. If nothing else, cooking them is a good excuse for beer.

Silver Linings

Though I often come across as a pessimist (or, as an old boss once said, "I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist"), the optimistic tendencies I inherited from my mum mean I'm a firm believer in the fact that some good comes of everything. I finish work here four weeks today, and though it means I'll need to find a decent job ASAP if I'm to keep with my long-term plan, there's still some good in the situation. First, it means I can get out of this company which I'm really beginning to detest and which I feel has been using me as near-slave-labour from day one, and secondly my boss is one of the few decent people in the corp and thus didn't bat an eyelid when I asked for Friday 8th off work without having to use up any holiday.

Friday 8th being, coincidentally, the day of the NIN gig in Birmingham, for which Pete, Vixel and I have tickets. :D

Thus the last two weeks of my contract are four days apiece, and due to lieu-pay for unused holiday, I'm effectively being paid up until the end of July. As such I don't really have to start worring about needing to be employed until the start of August. And I guess I could also claim unemployment benefits for the two weeks up until then.

So the question is, as always, where to go from there. I'm bound to Loughborough for another year and, assuming I find employment at a similar pay level, probably another year after that. At that point I guess I'd probably have enough money to be able to comfortably apply for the JET programme or other teaching-English-in-Japan job. However, that's a long way off, and a lot could happen between then and now. I'm coming around to the opinion that my ideal plan for the future is one of flexibility. In the intervening time I might catch a flash of inspiration, write my magnum opus, get published and become a successful novelist, or I could get an IT job somewhere and end up being put through Uni again. I could be offered a job in a different city and find myself moving again, making new friends and aquaintances, or I could end up back in Holland. I could find a soulmate and end up raising a family, or I could cut loose and start all over again. All of that could happen, or none of it. Two years is quite a lot of time.

Right now, however, I'm surprisingly content. I've got a bunch of good friends who I wouldn't trade for anything or anyone else, and I've got the enviable chance to stop for a second, catch my breath and take stock of my situation. It's not often anyone gets that chance, and I hope to make the best of it.

Song for the day: Time Stand Still by Rush; not only one of my favourite songs on one of my favourite albums, the lyrics are rather appropriate.

Epiphany

I had a vision this morning, somewhere in the hazy part between sleeping, waking and hitting the snooze button on the alarm for the second time (not as easy as it sounds, as I actually have to get up to do that).

Loughborough needs a street café. Right in the town centre, in the square, it needs a continental-style bar & café. It needs to be dark wood and ornate beer pumps inside its poorly-lit interior, while the outside tables on the square itself will have parasols and be interspersed with gas heaters for the colder parts of the year. It'll serve Belgian, German and Dutch beer from the tap or bottle, by the pilsner glass. There'll be food- oh, how there'll be food: uitsmijters, pannekoeken and tostis, along with broodjes, vlammetjes and bitterballen for lighter snacks, and stamppot or boerenkool for heavier, heartier meals. There'll be table-service, even outside, and tabs will be paid at the end of the customers' stay.

Of course, I have no illusions that it wouldn't work in the UK. Importing the beer would be a nightmare, people would balk at paying a couple of quid for what looks like a half of lager, they'd try to skip out of paying, the furniture would be destroyed and/or lifted in short order, and it'd interfere with the town market. But still, in my mind, it's a bloody good idea, and the government did say they wanted a shift from old pubs and bars to a European café culture. Maybe I ought to look into a small business loan...

Tiramisu, Tiramisu, Will you do the Fandango...

Well, by popular request, here's my (un)patented Tiramisu Recipe...

Ingredients
1kg Mascarpone Cheese
1 pack Caster Sugar
4 Large Free-Range Eggs
2 Packs Sponge Fingers/Savoiardi
Half a bottle of Kahlua
One pot of Strong Black Coffee (cold)
Some Cocoa Powder

Instructions
1. Combine 2tbsp Caster Sugar with the Mascarpone and the Egg Yolks (saving the whites for later) and blend to a smooth consistency.
2.Take the Egg Whites and beat them until stiff (if you've got a Kenwood mixer or a sexually-frustrated male housemate it's a godsend here)
3.Carefully fold the egg whites into the mascarpone mix, taking care not to knock the air out of them.
4.Layer about a quarter of the mix in the bottom of a large, deep pyrex casserole dish.
5.Combine the cold coffee and Kahlua in a bowl or basin. Soak some of the sponge fingers in the alcofrolic caffeinated goodness, and layer them on top of the mascarpone. Repeat this process for four layers of mascarpone split by three layers of sponge fingers.
6.Dust the top with cocoa powder, cover and stick in the fridge for twenty-four hours.
7.Invite your mates over, feed them and bask in the glory of their adoration. ;)

Note that, because the dish includes raw eggs, you may want to avoid feeding it to the sensitive, infirm, pregnant or undeserving.

...Shit.

Well, I didn't get the NSO job. Apparently they had another candidate who had more experience in the field. Thus, it looks like, unless I can find something else, I'll be unemployed as of the middle of July.

The upside, of course, is that it means I'll be getting out of CITB before the whole organisation goes down the toilet. I can see this happening in the near future- the management are too concerned with targets and buzzwords, and from my experience of the interviews over the past week it appears that they're concerned more with who can talk the talk as opposed to who can walk the walk. Though it means the pressure's on to find something else before the money runs dry, I think I'll feel happier in someone else's bureaucracy.

So, anyone know any Loughborough companies in need of clerical, data-entry or IT staff?

The Story So Far (AKA What I Did...)

When I started this Blog I set myself a basic rule: no quizzes, no viral messages. Well, I'm just about to break that with this list commandeered of one of Vixel's many Blogs (exactly how many do you have?!).

Things I Have Done
Achieved ones in Bold

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Touched an iceberg
20. Slept under the stars
21. Changed a baby's diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
23. Watched a meteor shower
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
30. Called in sick when you were not ill
31. Asked out a stranger
32. Had a snowball fight
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
36. Enacted a favorite fantasy
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
40. Seen a total eclipse
41. Ridden a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
48. Had two hard drives for your computer
49. Visited all 50 states/every county
50. Loved your job
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign
57. Backpacked in Europe
58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing
60. Lied to foreign government's official in that country to avoid notice
61. Midnight walk on the beach
63. Visited Ireland
64. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Benchpressed your own weight
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
73. Posed nude in front of strangers
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
76. Kissed in the rain
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater
80. Done something you should regret, but don't regret it
81. Visited the Great Wall of China
82. Discovered that someone who's not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
90. Gotten married
91. Been in a movie
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn't have
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
96. Had sex at the office restaurant
97. Gone without food for 5 days
98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don't remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
120. Been on a cruise ship
121. Spoken more than one language fluently
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children
127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Congress person/Member of Parliament
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. ...more than once?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge/Q E II Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
140. Wrote articles for a large publication
141. Lost over 100 pounds - Money, not weight
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someone's heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
177. Changed your name
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad
181. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them
183. ...and gotten 86'ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
191. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196: Dyed your hair
197. Been a DJ
198. Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal
199. Written your own role playing game
200. Been arrested

It does make me think a little- what am I doing with my life and, fundamentally, is what I'm doing worth anything in the grand scheme of things? I know I've made a lot of really awful choices over time, and to an extent I think I've been beating myself up over some of them as penance for Gods-know how long. I know I'm still looking for a direction, still looking for a raison d'etre- I guess that comes with thinking far too much. But I'm beginning to feel that I've moped and mourned enough, and that I'm not going to find a meaning to life by navel-gazing. Maybe the fuck-ups of the past don't have any bearing on the present, maybe mistakes don't repeat themselves. Maybe, just maybe, now that I know what the mistakes were, I might not make them again.

Anyways, this concludes a somewhat incomplete and cryptic post, as I really should be putting my boots on and high-tailing it for the office. Hopefully I'll hear today about the NSO job, for good or bad (I've pretty much come to the conclusion I haven't got it, but I dare reality to prove me wrong). Here's hoping.

Interview With The... Management?

I've come to the conclusion that I hate interviews. I'm a useless speaker at the best of times, further hindered by a self-effacing and understating attitude linked to a degree of self-doubt (hark at Jung over here). As such, I tend to feel I perform very poorly in interviews, whether or not I've got the skills for the job or not.

Todays interview was not particularly nice. Though I felt slightly better about myself- after all, it's the third one this week, and both the interviewers know me- I still felt I fumbled quite a bit. On top of that, a lot of the questions were about department-specific procedures, which someone from outside (ie. me) had little chance of answering accurately. As the job is in the department I worked in up until last August I had a passable knowledge of the department, its people and its procedures, but how the hell am I meant to know what page section three of our start-up paperwork is on, or what the flow of grant applications is? You couldn't answer those sorts of questions unless you're doing the job, and if they had someone doing it they wouldn't be interviewing them!

*Sigh*

Of course, they also said they'd have made a decision on who gets the job by the end of today, which puts me in a quandary. The NSO job at Site B is expected to be decided upon by the end of the week, and would be the smarter option if I'm offered it. However, I may not hear about it until tomorrow. If they select me for the internal one today, I may not be able to delay a decision until I hear about the other job. And if I decline it, there's still a high chance that I won't get the NSO job and will thus have lost both. Aaargh! This is driving me nuts, I swear.

On the upside, we had a great night last night. Dan called Vicki yesterday lunchtime and asked her to rally the troops for a pub trip that evening. Vicki crashed our place first and we ended up heading to the pub ahead of schedule, grabbing food in-situ (I love the food at the Swan- it tastes great and they know how to size a portion). Rockers crawled out of the woodwork as the evening progressed. We were there until ten, when we headed over to the Nuns to harrass Sara on her first night working behind the bar. As such I consumed a fair amount of beer- I reckon I've spent about thirty quid in pubs this week, compared to my usual £10-a-week booze budget. I am beginning to wonder if the job stress is turning me into an alcofrolic... Or maybe I should just blame Vicki. ;-)

Anyways, lunchtime- and here's hoping I hear about the NSO job first...

Song of the Day: Evangeline by The Mission (thanks Vixel!)

Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard

Bitch of the day: Lusers. Take this exchange for instance...

Luser A: Do we have a spare flat-screen monitor?
JH: Nope- they cost too much to keep spare. Why d'you ask, is there a problem with your screen?
LA: When I'm in our database I can't see all the information that's on the screen.
JH: I see. What resolution is your desktop set to?
LA: Pardon?
JH: sighs quietly Wait a minute. *Trudges over to Luser A's desk* Ah, your computer's set to 800x600 resolution. What were you trying to see?
LA: *clickety* See, when you bring that window up it's indented and you can't see the end or the scrollbar.
JH: *drags window over* You can move it so that you can...
LA: That's not very good.
JH: I can up your monitor's resolution to 1024x768, which will make the space available on your desktop bigger.
Luser B: *eavesdropping* Helpdesk tried that on my machine and it ballsed up the settings.
JH: OK, Luser C's on holiday, we can test your machine out with her TFT. *Connects up 15" TFT from other desk* OK, this is your database running on a higher resolution... *clickety* How's that? The whole window's displayed.
LA: The pop-up window's still indented.
JH: Yes, that's the way WinXP stacks windows. Anyways, let's try this on your own screen. *reconnects Luser A's 17" CRT* You're still in the higher resolution, and as you can see the whole window is still visible.
LA: But it's all so small! I can't read that. Can you put it back to how it was before?
JH: You are aware that the program doesn't allow you to resize the window, so if I reset the resolution you'll be back to having the end of the window off-screen?
LA: Yes, I don't mind.

You wouldn't employ an illiterate person in a job that required them to read, so why do companies insist in employing the computer-illiterate in database operator jobs?!

...And calm.

Z?

I'm beginning to think that sleep is most definitely for the week- I don't seem to be getting any at the weekends any more...

Thursday was, as usual, a great night out at the Union. I drank and thrashed around a bit on the dancefloor, Pete relaxed a little from his own current personal hell of revision stress, and Vicki got somewhat wrecked at the Biffy Clyro gig next door before joining us. Somewhat out-of-character, we hung around to the end despite Vixel and I having work in the morning. Again, 'twas a good night.

Surprisingly I did not resemble the walking dead on Friday morning, though a lack of anything to actually do in the office combined with most people leaving at 4pm (normal for a Friday here- one rota'd person has to stay and man the phones, but the rest are allowed to leave if they've made an hour up elsewhere in the week) meant I skidaddled home at half-four, enough time to watch half the PS3 E3 video with Ed and Pete before Vicki showed up.

Vicki had earlier in the week announced that she made excellent cheesecake and, given our house's (particularly Ed's) love of the stuff, it had been decided she needed to make us one. It had also been decreed that she and I needed to do a roast dinner. Thus I'd dutifully made sure the kitchen was in a usable state on Thursday evening (the remnants of a chili can be worked around). However, given that we discovered we didn't actually have a pan suitable of doing cheesecake in, the cheesecake was put on hold and I ended up doing a botched tagliatelle carbonara. I say 'botched' as I couldn't remember how the hell I was meant to do carbonara sauce. I knew it involved eggs, bacon, cream and pepper, but that was as far as I got. So instead, I did something more akin to three-cheese sauce with added bacon. Though the protions looked a little meagre, we soon discovered that a) those bowls we've got are deeper than they look, and b) three-cheese sauce made with double cream is bloody rich. It was nice. :-D

The night wore on with us alternately consuming Black Russians and cafetieres of coffee, and watching movies until about 3am, when Vicki decided she'd better actually get some proper sleep (she'd passed out on my shoulder at some point while watching Hackers), so I walked her home. On the way back I nipped into Tescos to commandeer a couple of packs of Sara Lee croissants and some pancetta for breakfast- shock, horror, Tescos are discontinuing the SL tinned croissants! Never-more will I be able to make my own pancetta-and-cheese, boursin and/or chocolate-filled croissants for breakfast! Sob! :-( As you may guess, I bought four packs while I could...

After a few hours sleep on Saturday morning (the sun was almost up by the time I got home, and I was too tired even to close the curtains) I headed into town, bought a new cheese grater (at last!) and a spring-form cheesecake pan, and collected Vicki again. We stopped off at Sainsburys to grab stuff for a roast on the way home, which turned into a hilarious escapade of one-upmanship on cooking techniques. Suffice to say that we reached a compromise. ;-)

Saturday afternoon/evening then drew on into more movies and Black Russians- I think between the three of us (Pete, Vicki and self) we probably went through about half a bottle of Kahlua/vodka. It was about 10pm when Vicki- slightly inebrieated- declared it was time to cook the roast.

Now, our kitchen makes most broom closets look roomy. It's quite literally only big enough for two people if they are able to ignore the concept of personal space. On top of that, it has sod-all work-space at the best of times, even less so when the side is still covered with pots from the last meal. And thus the pair of us trying to do a roast dinner, including yorkshire puds, two sorts of potato and four veg in this space was bordering the far end of insane. At one, somewhat surreal, point I ended up in a telephone conversation with Vicki's mother about yorkshire puddings. In the end we completely forgot about the mangetout and the peas, mistimed the cooking on everything else, miscooked the yorkshire (we ended up doing one big yorkshire in the pyrex lasagne dish) and used up pretty much every kitchen utensil we own, but the meal was still pretty damned good- despite the fact it was gone midnight when we served up...

Being studious peeps trying to pass exams, Pete and Ed crashed out not long after the meal, while Vicki and I ended up watching Finding Nemo and Kiki's Delivery Service before she passed out on the sofa and I did so in the armchair- neither of us could find the energy to make it to a bed. We finally rejoined the living world around ten when Ed poked his head around the door.

It took a little longer before either of us woke up properly, and when we did we made a play for the cheesecake. The downside to Vicki's cheesecake recipe was that she couldn't remember quantities of ingredients, so we ended up making it by guesswork, sonsuming a pack of strawberries and half a bottle of red wine while waiting for it to set. Gluttony got the better of patience and we served up about three hours after the cooking. The end result, while sumptuous, had only three flaws- the base had adhered to the pan, the cheese hadn't set fully, and it was maaaybe a little too rich. ;-) Next time we'll use less sugar, fridge it overnight and remember to line the pan with greaseproof paper...

Vicki left around half-nine after watching 51st State (great film, takes the piss out of both Americans and Scousers), not long after which I crashed out so I'd be good for my interview today. The meeting was at 10am over at the Quality Hotel, which I reckoned was a good three quarters of an hour away. I was about right and, after grabbing a shower and making myself look about as presentable as I get, I headed up there, arriving about 0930- fashionably early. As to the interview itself, I'm in two minds about how it went. I made sure I stressed my expertise and experience with databases and IT systems, knowing full-well that the team in question are thin on IT talent and have a requirement for someone who knows what they're doing, so I think I scored points there. I also enlightened the people in question as to their intranet page being out-of-date. However, I have come to the conclusion that my interview technique is shite- my brain locked up a couple of times, and I don't think I sold myself to the best of my ability or came across as committed enough. My chances are probably about fifty-fifty, but aren't they always? Either I'll get the job or I won't. Either way I'll apparently know by the end of the week. The interview was done by half-ten, so I took a slight detour through town and picked up some sushi from M&S to take the edge off the angst- discovered the decent-sized packs are only around in the early morning, so may have to take lunch earlier in future...

Which brings us to the present. I've finished my sushi, written this blog and am now thinking about going for lunch (ie. nipping home and checking the progress on my download of The Wings Of Honneamise, one of my favourite anime movies of all time). Work content of the morning: zero. I'm almost going to miss this job...

Countdown: 96 days until next NL holiday. :D

Knowledge is Power- Hide it well

It's a quiet day in the office, and as Revelation 13 is good-to-go bar the shouting (viz, sorting out vehicle designs, building a decent equipment catalogue and detailing a few other background elements which affect the game-world), so I've fallen back on my time-passing staple: I'm researching random stuff on Wikipedia.

It amazes me just how much information there is on there, and I've taken to occasionally attempting to destruct-test it by putting in stuff I figure it wouldn't have. So far I've found detailed critiques of Invader Zim and the other related works of Jhonen Vasquez and Slave Labor Graphics. I've found the complete blow-by-blow history of the US space programme. I'm currently working my way through the list of experimental aircraft. This morning I was looking at late bronze-age cavalry and how the light spectrum breaks down outside the visible range, and the practical uses of Infra-red and Ultra-violet light.

I've thus come to the conclusion that Wikipedia- especially when combined with the other Wiki projects- now encompasses the sum total of human knowledge. It's become a hitch-hiker's guide to Earth. And I can't stop reading it.

That, of course, brings me to a revelation. Learning is an inherently good thing. Information and knowledge are, in my view, a new currency by which we pay our way in the world. Every day we learn something new, and we are improved for it. In this stagnant world, learning is the only evolution we're left with.

And so, a question: What have you learned today?

Song for the Day: Educated Fool by Iron Maiden.

Don't Feed 'Em After Midnight...

I tend to have really vivid dreams- almost always from first-person perspective- when I actually get any REM sleep, and when I remember them (about a third of the time) I am often left thinking 'What the fuck?!' Last night was no exception to that rule.

I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I know it involved our house having a toilet out in the cubbyhole where the fridge and freezer lives, and it being infested with sandworms (proper Dune-style ones, except only about a foot long). The floor was partially soft sand with some terracotta tiles which you had to hop between if you wanted to use the kazi without losing a foot.

It also involved my maternal grandmother (IRL in her seventies and resident in Spain) turning out to be an anime nut and wanting a copy of the new Appleseed movie.

To make matters worse there was a scene with Ed announcing he was going to make a honey & coriander stir-fry, despite me knowing all too well that I'd consumed the honey & coriander stir fry sauce that very evening- I hadn't the heart to tell him.

And throughout all this my housemates and I (including perrenial visitors) were engaged in a war against ninja Vogons, who we finally beat because their ship's flight computer was a Commodore 64 and thus couldn't load up their control program before we zapped 'em.

I'm really going to watch what I eat before I sleep...

On the upside I've had a productive morning- finally got a pricing formula for the Revelation 13 RPG system I'm building worked out. I'd estimate a week or two to finalise a few other bits and bobs before I convert everything to PDF and post it up onto EighthAngel. I hope to start running games of it before I hit NL in September, though that depends on how many players I've got around.

Countdown: 101 days until next NL holiday. :D