Right then.  First off, on Friday morning I'm travelling to Luton to fly to Muenster for the weekend.  KoHIT beckons.  Monday, I fly back, and go to nadriel's place for the rest of the week (again).  So that's a week in South London, but with a guy that's working full time.  Ergo, I want a) stuff to do in the daytime and b) stuff to do when he's busy gaming and stuff.  So...

London Calling

Anyone free during the week want to meet up at any point, gimme a shout? This includes evenings as, well, I plan to enjoy myself while up there. On Friday, we're going to synth_culture, and he's arranging a bulk entry group discount thing as he's celebrating getting the job &c, which is cool.  So go tell him who you are so we can get in cheap, right?  Planning to travel back Saturday or Sunday, not sure yet (see below). Next up, like my new icon? I nicked it, naturally.

Icons, LJ and games designers

K, a few weeks back someone (I think theweaselking linked to a post by wickedthought, which I liked. Using my usual procedure of reading around, liking the content, etc, I went to his profile to add him. Name=John Wick. Bells ring in my dozy head. John Wick. Wasn't that the designer of L5R? Hmm, yes, it appears it is. L5R? The game that inspired Doomtown, changed the way CCGs work, underpins AEG and without which Warlord (and thus KoHIT) wouldn't exist? Yup, that's the one. Yesterday, he posts about the elections, says he voted Libertarian, and I have a brief discussion on the merits of Expressive voting with a different commenter, _grimtales_, one of whose replies includes said Kipling icon. So, I go to look at his other pics as, y'know, Kipling for the win. And then I look at his profile. James Desborough. Hmm, another name I know. Wait, Munchkin's guide to powergaming. So I trawl at his site, what do I find? Well, y'know how I don't do RPGs anymore? I may be tempted.  

Neverwhere

It's a free download at his site, Postmortem Studios. In fact, it's got a lot of background stuff as well, so non-gamers like faeriecween and jantshira may be interested regardless as, y'know, it's Neverwhere. 

New Friends

Then, on a completely different note, I put up a few posts on radio4listeners about Clue and the bloody Archers. ginasketch managed a completely OT comment (meant for a different comm), which lead me to stupid_free, which may beat metaquotes in amusement provision, with added snark. Gina runs the oldharrysgame comm, and is making an animation based on the genius show that Andy Hamilton created. So amusement+more amusement=new extra friend. I'm supposed to be trying to cut back on that, I keep breaking the 500 barrier and having to delete some old syndicated feeds. Why does LJ stop displaying your friends in a list once you break 500? Given more than half of mine are feeds, that's really annoying, especially given that it replaces them with a link to a directory search that only works for paid users (I'm moving a lot of my lesser read feeds to matbowles because, well, might as well make use of the reading account, right?). Have also met a Goddess of Small Things and a few more politicos (on that subject, anyone interested in UK politics not reading publicansdecoy go friend now, y'hear?) Bought 2000AD today (as always), and there's a full page add for

Dreddcon: 6.5% proof!

To be held in Oxford at Jericho Tavern, Walton Street, noon till 6pm, Sat 18th November. MacNeil, Jock, Bisley and a few other droids to be in attendance, and it's a good excuse to visit Oxford as I've a) never been and b) am on that side of the country anyway. Plus, y'know, it's in a pub. And free. Any takers?

So, I've got a week and a bit off work, I'm off to see nearly_everyone in Germany, then spending a week bumming around London and LJ has provided me much amusement thus far last few days. Also, strictlytrue also went to Ottery, and has pictures. LJ's cool, most of the time. It's just a damn shame that it's dying.

Oh yeah, the beau_bo_d_or_fd feed has started working again after the LJ crash, Rumsfeld has resigned and the Dems have retaken Congress.  I'm off to try and work out what the swing was...