Some days I swear I wish I could shoot people.

Like the woman on the bus who refused to move over to her side of the seat, forcing me out into the corridor where I'm bashed into with school kids' backpacks.

Or the woman who cut across diagonally in front of me with a pram and then just stopped, wedging me against the side of the walkway.

Or the idiots at the sushi train that dumped their lids back on the train, but jammed them in there so stupidly that they caused a train-wreck when it went around the next bend.

That was just today.

Then there's the lazy selfish people that couldn't be arsed putting fresh food they've picked up back where they got it from when they've changed their minds about it.  So seeing meat and cheese and fresh fruit just dumped amongst drygoods shelves to get warm and rotten.  Such people make me furious.  And not just once either, three times in recent weeks.

blah.

We went to the vegan place in Dickson tonight - Kingsland.  Was pretty good.  Had to wait a little while for our order to be taken, but the food was great.  We had mongolian "lamb" and salt and pepper "prawns" which were a little spicy for me, but still good. 

Anyone got any tips for vegan eating in Germany?  Dave?

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Vista?  If you take a memory stick out of the card reader while you still have its window open, explorer crashes so completely that new explorer and internet explorer windows simply won't open.  Until a frigging reboot!!

Played pool with the soss guys tonight.  We lost two games and won one.  Lotsa fun, even though I'm crap at it.

Then off to the Dumpling Inn with Damien.  Food was amazing as always.  Especially the shredded beef peking style :)

Then took some cool rainbow photos.


Then to Scotty's to watch some more Firefly.

Well I had quite a pleasant long weekend.  How about you? :)

Saturday morning I headed down to the lake for the F/A-18 flyby.  Took a photo of cannons while I waited..


Right on time (I think), the F/A-18s flew up from the south east.  They were very fast and very loud.  I didn't trust myself with burst mode, but did get this nice shot of them just as they were separating.


Then they fired the cannons.  I could feel the shockwave from them from where I was standing some distance back.


On the way back to the car snapped this pic of a duck..


Then I headed off to Cancon, where Stu was competing.  I got there in time to see him finish his first battle.


Damien requested this photo of an army in the "ancient" section.  I don't know who ended up winning, but the line held remarkably well, and they'd killed three of the four elephants at one point when I looked over..


At lunch, Damien and Stu and I headed off to "New Asia" in Dickson.  Damien is a regular there and now is on first name terms with the staff :)   We had some delicious (if slightly *warm*) food there before heading back to Cancon for the afternoon session.

The beginning of Stu's second battle


A close up of one of Stu's guns


And some more of his guns


After the games, we came home, and Natalie and Andrew came over for pizza and movies.  I slightly overcooked the pizzas, whoops.  We watched Dr Strangelove, and Shakespeare in Love.  I think they had a nice time.. :)

Sunday morning Stu headed off to Cancon while I painted and built model aeroplanes, washed the sheets, did several days worth of washing up, etc. 

For dinner we went to Mamak Corner in Garran with some of the other war gamers.  More good food there.  I had some fried ice cream for dessert - haven't had that in ages.


Stu played both these dudes on his first day


Today was more of the same for me, and indeed more of the same for Stu.

Stu won this trophy - the Captain-General's trophy for chivalrous behaviour (or something like that) :)


Have to go back to work tomorrow.  Doh!!

So Saturday .. was that yesterday? Seems so long ago..

Got up and got ourselves ready before heading to Parramatta Park for Jake's wedding reception thingie. Was quite pleasant, and the food was fantastic. It threatened to rain for most of the afternoon but held off until near the end. Not that it mattered much, being under one of the nice big pavilions.

Wandered back to James and George's for a bit of a sleep. After dinner we all played another game of RoboRally. This time Stu won, after a hard battle for the second flag, the rest of the game was fairly easy.

We went to bed *very* late (even Josh stayed up til after midnight). So we were a bit tired this morning. Said goodbye, then trekked the entire way across Sydney to my parents place for lunch.

Me in the Bah Humbug hat

Stu and me (laughing at my brother baring his chest to make us smile)

The cockatoos are multiplying

On the way home we came across these poor people who had overturned their car and caravan. Ruining their holiday fairly decidedly. That purple car with a P-plate is an unmarked police car .. is that even legal..??

Stu decided to take a scenic route home, so we went down the left side of Lake George, through Tarago. It was very pretty.

Smith's Gap coming up the end of Lake George

This is one of the Christmas presents I got today - a Rubiks mega cube. I'm dreading mucking it up, because I don't think it'll ever go back together again..

After our dinner we went for a drive to see some Christmas lights. Firstly in Gungahlin

And then Amagula Ave, Ngunnawal, as recommended in the Riot Act. Truly spectacular!

The whole front room of the house was converted into these little displays

My tree at home doesn't look nearly so exciting now

I still like my study lights tho...

Bit of a topsy turvy emotional day today. Got ready and drove to Sydney, stopping at Goulburn for lunch. Then did a drive-by of my old unit. Stocked up on fish food at the pet store near my house (which is about half the price of Jem Aquatics). Visited the local servo to say hello and refuel.

Then onto uni for afternoon tea. They'd all basically knocked off for the day, and Jodi and Jim came to visit and I got very sad that I'd had to leave the place. Stu even said that the work environment seemed even *too* good. Anyway so I was a bit delicate after that.

Trekked north to James & George's, anticipating horror traffic but instead got a dream run. Then the boys upset me by their lack of sympathy over my vista dramas. Sigh. Boys suck sometimes. Then had dinner which was very nice, and played a game of Roborally. I've played that game once, maybe twice, but like ten years ago. I remember it being fun then, and it was fun this time too. I actually even won, but it was pretty close.

Very late, bed time.

So we'd both been at work late tonight, so we decided to go out for dinner. We went to Bella Vista in Belconnen.

It was fantabulous!

The food was great, the wine was spectacular (a Mt Majura pinot gris), and the service was excellent.

Highly recommended.

Obviously other people thought so too. It was full, even on a Tuesday night.

I've been playing a lot of Hearts in the past few weeks. Not sure why. Probably because my todo lists are so long and overwhelming that I think I'll just play another game and avoid thinking about things for a while longer.

Today, on Boing Boing I think, I found this cool game - Chat Noir. The idea is to surround the kitty so it doesn't run away off the screen. Quite addictive, you have been warned :)

I got the Christmas tree put up today. Doing this required boxing up some of Stu's books to put into storage, tidying up that corner of the lounge room, and vacuuming. We also did a big grocery shop, and had lunch out.

Yesterday was the first of several work Christmas parties. I got appropriately sozzled (the last two drinks I wasn't planning on tho, honest ;) ). It was a pleasant enough afternoon. Then met up with Stu and we went to Damien's and then out to dinner at the Dumpling Inn. Great food - their shredded beef Peking style is unreal, and watched all the lightning out the window. Had ice cream at Damien's while er.. enjoyed.. a bit of a hangover headache. Oops.

Central Cafe, Queanbeyan

Went with my brother and Stu. Food was not bad (my chicken kiev was very good), but be warned - *huge* serving sizes. Prepare to ask for a doggy bag.

Thai Chiang Rai, Belconnen

Went with Stu, Melita and Xander. Very good food, but *abysmal* service. We waited and waited for things, and the waiters would come by to take our orders without an order book. Not very organised at all.

2602, Ainslie

Returned with Stu after our first visit with Damien. Tried other things on their menu. Pretty good, but will never match Ascot Provisions.

Me being distraught and all tonight, Stu got me some comfort food... Domino's 7 Meats pizza (on triple-cheese crust)...