Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in fomorian's LiveJournal:

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Friday, April 11th, 2008
3:45 pm	Thanks to all for the birthday wishes. A fun time was had by all in the merry land of Cork, there is to be drinking and dancing tonight, and boardgames tomorrow. What more could a nerd want? On an unrelated note, a thought struck me while playing Call of Cthulhu last week. If I ran the world, or at least had control over educational facilities, every single college would have a duly appointed member of staff whose job would be to pay attention to scuttlebutt, grapevine and gossip. And if they heard that any student or member of staff had come up with a crazy idea and was being ridiculed for it, they would intervene. Because really, would you get half as many mad scientists if they had to yell "They all said I was mad! ... then took me aside, sat me down with a cup of tea and explained that while they weren't sold on the validity or morality of my suggestions, they did respect that I was attempting to further the goals of science and humanity, and would provide me with a focus group to figure out the best way to progress with the idea, if at all." Current Mood: chipper (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
1:37 pm	In just under 40 minutes, I have my first job interview in over four years. And I am wearing a suit. Eep. Edit: In other news, happy birthday aislinns Current Mood: nervous (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
3:58 pm	Unexpected but delicious combination of the day Potato with pre-fried black pudding mashed into it. I feel that this should be more widely known of. Tell your friends! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 4th, 2007
10:50 am	It is Spraoi, and once again I am working. Grr. Current Mood: aggravated (Comment on this)
Friday, August 3rd, 2007
11:23 am	The chairs in my work canteen have all been subject to a manufacturers recall. This is potentially disturbing. I mean, they were uncomfortable, but you don't get products recalled for that. What the hell was wrong with them? Current Mood: confused (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 30th, 2007
11:00 am	Ingredients: Crickets :yawns: Weekends aren't long enough. Not when they include late nights, early mornings, trips to petshops, cinemas & cafes, good friends, games and assorted hijinks, exploding cartons of spoiled chocolate milk and the problem of getting green slime out of one's pants, all with the prospect of impending baby-ness in the background. A few highlights: The discovery of a collection of classic Sega Mega Drive games for the Playstation 2. So far, no-one who has entered my house has failed to find something that makes them go squee! on this. For myself, this has been Sonic the way it was meant to be: in 2-D, with frequent death and cursing. I'm not going to claim that games were better back then, not when I have Overlord sitting on my PC, but last night my dreams were to the tune of the Green Hill Zone. The Simpsons Movie. Yeah, I was surprised too. But the worst parts of this were unoffensive, which is more than I can say for any episode of the show in the last ... ohh ... decade. The good parts were classic Simpsons, and saw the characters in some way return to their earlier selves. Homer as a clueless individual rather than the borderline psychotic he became, for example. Plus the haunting operatic of "Spider-Pig", which I've been humming all weekend. Finding the obviously titled Can O' Crickets in a petshop on Saturday while making little "aw" noises at short-haired hamsters and baby ferrets. E- bought a venus flytrap last week, so we decided to pick these up and try feeding them to the hungry, hungry plant. So far it seems to be enojoying them. Unfortunately once opened the can has to be kept refrigerated, and seeing as how our housemate elbrop hates insects... this has the potential for hilarious consequences. Possibly even wacky. So I've hidden them in the dairy section of the fridge, which has a little flip-over lid and hitherto has only been used to store tubes of tomato purée, which he also hates. So now it's Monday morning, I'm in work, and E- has headed West to see her nephew/niece, who has been threatening to manifest since Friday night. I could do with having the whole thing over again. Current Mood: happy (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 9th, 2007
4:02 pm	Eragon I watched Eragon last night. Or at least, E- watched Eragon last night, while I made dinner and read old issues of Arcane & Valkyrie in the adjoining/same room. Which means I didn't completly waste my time. I felt a bit sorry for the King in it though - he must be so bored. From watching the film, I was left with the opinion that he never travels more than five feet from his throne, is only ever visited by one person, who appears to be he sole non-mook henchman. Really. If I put a villain like that into one of my games*, my players would have usurped the kingdom within three game sessions... But today I got to yell "You fool! You'll pay for your insulin!" at a diabetic, so it all balances out fun-wise. *Other than Ravenloft, obviously. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
3:19 pm	I knew a god once. His name was L-, a small and forgotten deity, the kind that only gets a lower-case g. Back in the day, I'm sure he was one of the up-and-comers of Greece. He and all the other gods would have kicked back, shared an amphora, and promised never to loose touch. We've all been there. Not everyone makes it. The gang broke up, egos got bruised, golden apples were bandied about. Dionysos got ideas in his head and went off to Rome. L-, always a small god of debauchery, got left behind. Sure, sometimes he'd turn at unannounced at a Bacchanalia, but it was embarassing to the newer crowd. Like a cousin trying to impress your cool new friends. I knew him a long time after all that, obviously. Everyone knew him, back where I used to live, though precious few suspected his origins. I think he'd forgotten it himself. Lack of worship had stripped him of all powers but one - omnipresence. L- could always find a party, and that's where you'd always find him. Regardless of who else who knew, where you went or how you got there, sooner or later you'd find him sitting in a corner, quietly smoking his unending joint. I must have met him in a hundred houses, barns, fields and music festivals. A friend went to Glastonbury one year, and there he was. He manifested outside my grad after I assured my girlfriend that this was one place he couldn't be. I moved away to college, knowing no-one in this new city and on my first day there... there was L-, stumbling through the campus on his way to a session. A brief word of greeting and he was gone. He's faded now of course. I've not seen him in years. I think the few fonts of worship that kept him going have dried up so much that he doesn't exist in the world most of the time. But he can still be invoked on rare occasion, if you say his name while wondering near the tinfoil in a supermarket. Then you might just get a whiff of hash, you look around, and for a moment he'll be there. He'll look at you through barely-open eyes, nod, and go on his way. They all still walk amongst us. If you know where to look. Current Mood: thoughtful (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 5th, 2007
2:34 am	The Romantic Barber of Fleet Street Just before waking up today, I had the oddest dream. It concerned a new adaptation of Sweeney Todd, starring Richard Wilson in the titular role, with Claudia Black as Margery Lovett. Rather than being in any way grim or dark however, the tale was set during a sun-drenched summer in a beautiful stretch of flowery countryside. Todd's shop appeared to be only a small part of a larger farm/barn setup, divided a few hanging curtains - he clearly had more going on than the barbering, or at least he once did. Perhaps his advancing years had made him cut back on his farm. Almost immediately, he met Margery Lovett for the first time. Margery's husband was sailing some far-off seas, and she felt she may as well be a widow. She and Todd hit it off, and the two strolled through the surrounding fields and lanes towards the local town, where she was bringing some of her pies to sell. Pretty much the whole rest of the dream concerned their quiet flirtation and cheerful conversation on this and the return trip. Though never mentioned by either, it was obvious that they were still going to go into their murder'n'cookery business. But it was unthinkable that this production was going to be anything but a cheerful romance - with murder - followed by a happy ending. I blame this on my being in a desperately cheerful mood - the phones in work remained dead for over five hours yesterday :) Anyway, screw you guys. I'm going home. Current Mood: amused Current Music: David Bowie - Magic Dance (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 4th, 2007
1:00 pm	Good Times It's very nice when all the phones in the call center go dead on a Friday afternoon :) Probably be horrid later when they come back up, but that's a worry for later... Current Mood: cheerful (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
12:08 pm	Birthday Cheer Happy Birthday rysmiel! Presents shall be in the post following this weekends trip back to Wexford. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
5:32 pm	Bas-Lag Dragon magazine recently dedicated the guts of an issue to the world of Bas-Lag. The result was interesting, though not fantastic, and a lot of this was down to the two artists who worked on it. One was great, the other not so much. While trawling deviantart, as I am wont to do, I turned up the gallery of the great one. So I thought that I might share the only relevant picture with those of you who care for such things. World of China Mieville Current Mood: impressed Current Music: Thunder Thighs - Nextwave theme song (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 27th, 2007
4:34 pm	Games Make Me Happy I picked up God of War II before work today, and got about 45 minutes of play in before I had to head out. In that time I've laid siege to Rhodes, been chased around the city by the Colossus, then fought the Colossus man-to-titanic-construct, then fought troops inside the Colossus, lost a duel with Zeus, fought my way out of Hades, flew a flaming pegasus again a flock* of griffons, made a deal with the Titans and nookied up some ladies of Rhodes who didn't hold my role of "God of the invading army" against me. Oh yes. This game rocks. *Assuming that "flock" is the correct term for griffons. Current Mood: bouncy (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 19th, 2007
10:22 pm	Dungeon & Dragon RIP News which may interest, or possibly sadden, some of the gamers amongst you today - Dungeon and Dragon magazines are for the axe. WotC have decided to withdraw the license from Paizo, who have been doing a sterling job of publishing them for the last five years or so. Wizards are planning to replace them with "web-based content", while Paizo are going to release a much larger D&D periodical called Pathfinder. I've been collecting both magazines regularly for about the last five years now, and sporadically for close on a decade before that, when I had both the income and access to a shop which sold them. Long before that, I remember reading the rare-as-gold copies that rysmiel owned, or bought for me in later years. Possibly it was this exposure at a young age that so impressed me. Possibly it's that Dragon has been running since the dawn of the rpg - the first issue was published in June '76, the final one will come out in September '07. But it feels like a piece of the hobby's history to me. And now it's gone. Silly to get put out by something like this, but there you go. Time to go read some older issues I think. Current Mood: sad (1 Comment |Comment on this)
12:06 pm	Euro-expectations As I've been saying for close on twelve months now, the next Eurovision should be interesting. Lordi's unexpected but highly welcome (and sweeping) victory last year has opened the doors for more "alternative" entries then we have been seeing for the last... ooh... ever. But there is of course nothing to say that alternative is good. This is, after all, the Eurovision. If half the songs don't make you want to burn out select portions of your brain with a heated clotheshanger, it wouldn't be the event we all know and love. With this in mind I'd direct the curious to Switzerland's* entry: DJ Bobo - Vampires Are Alive. I don't know yet what Ireland are submitting, but I'm sure that whatever it is will be up to our usual standards. * Or possibly Swytzerland, with the way this is going. Current Mood: amused Current Music: My Lovely Horse (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 4th, 2007
12:46 pm	Random web quizzes With unexpected results. You are a FLYING POLYP, a 20' tall part-physical entity that arrived from outer space to prey upon Earth's early life forms. They live in vast windowless cities of basalt beneath the surface of the planet. Take this quiz! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 2nd, 2007
1:19 pm	Duty Bit of a amusing moment yesterday. E- and I are attending the wedding of two friends (Liam & Lisa) next month; she's a bridesmaid and I'm a groomsman. E- had been speaking to the bride, and was relaying information as to how the weekend was to unfold, when in a casual manner she uttered the line "You have to spend the night with Liam." I suppose it's for the best that he get any lingering curiosity out of his system before he's wed, but I do wish that someone had told me about this duty when I signed up :) Current Mood: amused (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
6:29 pm	Back in work. For the first time after six days off, which seemed much, much longer due to travelling and Itzacon. It sucks. I've really burned out on this place, and after a brief taste of freedom it's so much worse. ( Anyway. ) Current Mood: tired (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
11:38 am	Galway ho! As proof that yesterday's grumbles are to be acted upon, E- and I shall be attending Itzacon III next weekend. Now I have the problem of figuring out just what I can wear that ties into The Prisoner. Where is that poloneck... Current Mood: perky (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007
1:53 pm	A useful page Common Errors in English Both funny and educational. (Comment on this)