Twenty years

Went ice skating with the family today.

Seems kind of odd to go ice skating in a desert town like Darwin, but they set up a temporary rink for the school holidays.

First time ice skating since the 90's, almost exactly twenty years since I last donned the skates. Made an okay showing of myself, was a little wobbly but didn't stack it. I enjoyed myself - despite having just gotten back to the heat from the frozen bottom half of the country, and having been looking forward to not wearing boots on my feet.

Was a good time, glad I went. Doubly so that it was a chance to spend time with the family.

Journey home

End of another major outing for work, now driving north up the middle of the country and heading home.

Good thing my last course was on at the same time as part of this outing, means less time away from the family.

Was only away from them for about two months this time, bit less actually. And this should be the last major outing for this year. Maybe. So yay, more time at home with the family! :D

Bookmarks

I love reading. I know some people aren't big fans of it, but spending hours reading a book sounds like a good time to me.

A couple of years ago I bought myself an eBook reader. I prefer real books but this gave me the option to carry lots of books in a small amount of space when I travelled (I like to pack lite). And the e-ink screen is not back lit so it is easy on the eyes, I can read for hours.

For the first time since I got it, I found a problem with it. There was a power issue and it dropped the bookmark on the book I was reading. I was up to around page 350 on a 1100+ page book. :|

The pain with this particular book reader is that it doesn't have a "go to page x" function. So in order to keep reading I have to start at page one and press forward three hundred plus times. :(

But there is a solution! One of the later versions of the software added the 'go to page x' option (someone was smart!) so all I have to do is update the firmware.

Shame I won't be able to do that until I get home. In August. *sigh*

Muddy shoes

Grrr... last day, all done, nope. Gotta run around in the cold rain and mud one last time.

Wouldn't be too much of an issue but I only have one pair of sneakers with me and I'll be flying early in the morning. No time for cold wet shoes to dry out.

*sigh*

Oh well, suck it up and move on.

Rainy days

Down in the bottom half of the country at the moment, learning stuffs for work. It's worked out well for me, having a bit of a buffer so I can aclimatize from the Darwin heat to the (icy) cold of the bottom half.

Not so good for all the other chaps who went straight from the hot north to the cold mud.

I'll be joining them soon enough.

Warcraft

Got a chance to go and see the new Warcraft movie. Normally I like to watch trailers and feel that the movie will be 'better' at the cinema rather than just waiting for the dvd.

In this case, I went in blind, just happened to go because a few friends were going. Didn't even know there was a Warcraft movie.

Overall, it was a fairly average sword and sorcery movie. Plot was okay, game aspects were nodded but overall a resounding 'meh'. Not one I'd recommemd running out to see.

What really stood out to me was the orc skin tones. They started out suitably green but scene by scene they got lighter until they were pretty much human skin tones. Probably to make them more relatable but it really stood out to me.

The characters were okay but there was probably too many principle characters to get invested in them. Good for making epics, but they got diluted so when one dies, there's no emotional content to draw the audience in.

I did like how they handled languages, and didn't opt for the old "everyone just understands everyone, because" trope.

Don't regret going to see it, but wouldn't recommend it. Wonder if they'll make a Starcraft movie? :P

First week away

Being away from home sucks.

Being away from home and not knowing when exactly I'll be back double sucks. :(

Down in the bottom half of the country, bit colder down here than it is in Darwin. Missing the heat a bit but getting used to the cold. At least I haven't been rained on yet.

Missing the family, glad to have mobile phone so we can message and talk.