peter @ my opera

Hmmm, well a customised look here at peter @ my opera seems to have gone by the wayside for the time being. In my defense, I have been faffing with the designs of two different Joomla run sites in recent weeks, so the motivation has been somewhat lacking.

(As I type, Opera 10 underlines my dreadful, dreadful spelling. Defence, I wrote up there at first. Ten's speedy new rendering engine, with the switch-it-on-if-you're-going-slow skillz of Opera Turbo, are all well and good, but I fear Opera will make a big thing of this Inline Spelling (Firefox has had this for ages) and HTML composition in the E-mail client (erm, see most E-mail clients for the last ten years), when it comes to Ten's launch later in the year. Opera shouldn't go out of its way to publicise things that its been lagging behind on, and should play up its strengths. The simple genius of Opera Link for a start.)

Anyway...

Here at Pete Junction there's been quite a Spring Clean. Banishing the PC to a cupboard has slightly solved my increasing frustration with the amount of bloody wires hanging round the place. PC and wires - in cupboard. Modem, router (!) and wires - in cupboard. Clapped out, I'll-Change-The-Channel-When-I'm-Good-And-Ready Virgin TV box - in cupboard.

Then the boiler went wrong, so I had to take all the shelves out of its cupboard so it was accessible for its £150 repair. This led to a purge of a lot of the things that were in the airing cupboard.

This is all good.

We managed to miss the May Pole fun in Stanmer Park this year, but did have a very nice picnic anyway. I think that, instead, we should make an effort this summer to find a night, and a wood, and some wood, and make a small chill-out fire. This has been mooted in recent summers, but hasn't happened.

I'm looking forward to my forthcoming MattParkway / ThangCentral Solstice AwayDays, in which I will sample all that is good in the west country, and spend some quality time chewing the important fat.

nuff said.

Cheers out.

• Xbox 360 An entirely un-scientific observation, but of the three people I know who own Xbox 360's - all three of said machines have gone wrong and had to be repaired by Microsoft, or exchanged by the retailer, once. Additionally, one of these three Xbox 360s has just died for a second time within a couple of months of having been repaired by Microsoft. ¹
  
• Wii Of the seven eight people I know who own a Wii, not one has had a problem. ^{1 2}
  
• The new look at Meckins' Grimoire perhaps implies I've been on some sort of web design course. (The title being "How to make your web site look like everyone elses.") I haven't, I cheated, and I commend Joomla to you.
  
• A few new photos over on Flickr.
  
• I linked to, and then withdrew a link to Digsby in my last post. I've continued to use it, but any new users should read this before installing. FB chat continues to work well in this client.
  
  
  

That's it, here's to Spring, and that Close to the Edge day!!

_{1 In each case, one of the consoles mentioned is mine.
2 Two of the Wiis date from 2007, two are less than six months old.}

Here are the assorted stats and thoughts of a year in the roleplaying game I run, Warhammer Fantasy Role Play.

Final cliffhanger of '07. "Avorn leaves first, and the tallest tower at the very back of the town catches his eye. At its highest window, a light is blinking on and off, on and off..."

Total number of episodes in '08. Fourteen, Episodes 56 through 69.

GM's favourite cliffhanger of '08. In terms of dramatic impact, it would have to be Episode 62. Our heroes had tracked down their nemesis, Nancy Bechet, but the fight had not gone well. The consensus amongst the players after the game that night, was that they'd all be back in completely different roles next time.

GM's favourite episode of '08. This is tricky. Episode 59 stands out in that it was so simple. Three characters spent most of the time hiding in the corner of an attic, fearful of discovery by Chantalle Lélevé. Matt (as Yuri) made an impassioned speech when the three were found, that was so full of feeling, and conveyed Yuri's frustrations at being delayed in getting on with The Fight Against Evil^TM that I quickly decided that Chantalle might have rather taken to this fiery commoner. A sub-plot that didn't go that far...

Subsitute Comedy Goblin Scene in '08. Couldn't find an excuse to write a comedy Goblin scene this year. To try and compensate, with our heroes stuck in the disgusting city-port of Mousillon, I offered them the chance to watch The Dancing Crows...

Then, the dancing troupe "The Dancing Crows" are introduced on the tiny stage over in the corner. Run by Thea, Dalvand's (landlord of the inn) ugly midget wife, they wear skimpy rags as tops, and ratskin mini skirts. And little else. The local peasants shamble to the front of the stage for a better look. Orpheus quickly leads the way upstairs.

Final cliffhanger of '08. Saxifrage Noddalson explains how the two children in his care, Gregor and Tilly, came to be captured by Orcs. The Orcs now have a three day lead. Saxifrage is keen to get going after them.

Overall Stats
Total episodes since April 04 - 69.
Approximate total game time - 200 hours.
Number of player characters since Episode One - 15.
Player Character deaths since Episode One - 7.
GM's favourite nasty twist probably remains... Doria Garibaldi.
Number of deaths of anachronistic talking cats - 1.