On good friday I, too[1], went to meet my parents

[jack]

Tomorrow is a bank holiday, isn't it?

After ascerning that it definitely was easter tomorrow, and very nearly but not quite getting my program to compile in every configeration, mum and dad picked me up from work.

Ambiguity had been kept *mostly* as decent as it had been made the last parent-visit :) and I'd done the last of the washing-up and a bit of vaccuuming the night before, so it was acceptable. I made dinner mainly from frozen components, which was quite nice though, and I think it impressed mum that I'd settled in enough that I could produce dinner for everyone without any faff. It also reminded me of two beliefs: (1) that food looks more professional if it comes in half a dozen different portions on the plate instead of a big mix and (2) any room looks tidier if you empty and clean any table and put it in the middle

Like Mornington Crescent would be, if it wasn't Mornington Crescent

Then Dad and I went to the Golden Hind and played pool. He won, but I *am* getting slowly better :) And while we were waiting for the table, and discussing money-putting-down etiquette[2]. And while we were waiting we played beggar-my-neighbour[3] and had much fun pretending it to be a game with skill, saying things like "Aha! Little did you know I was saving a jack in reserve" and "Oh no! I didn't see that coming at all!"

In fact, it was quite like mornington crescent. Which reminds me of *last* saturday, which I completely failed to spod, when we played 'London' at Owen's belated housewarming, which really is best described as "Like mornington crescent, but not" because it is a game which REALLY IS about moving dice-thrown numbers along underground tracks, trying to get to six designated stations. There was also a mao-like game, except that the new rules were predetermined of the form of 'play n cards per round' and the like.

[1] Sorry for the blasphemous joke. I couldn't resist.
[2] I described my observations as "Anyone can put the price of a game on the edge of the table and they play in that order. Whether they play a person of their choice or the previous winner is implementation defined. How many games you can by at once is undefined."[4] Does that sound accurate?
[3] Half the pack each. Always play from the top of your pile. Play alternately. But when a J,Q,K or A appears the other player plays 1,2,3 or 4 cards and you collect the whole discard pile, unless one of those cards is itself a J,Q,K or A in which case it the first player has to play 1,2..etc.
[4] Except I didn't say it in those words because I was talking to dad who isn't a C programmer. But I translated it for geekblogging :)

Comments

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

I like cutesypie, hate darling/dahling. Bablicious needs to have an extra 'e', or it sounds too much like 'babbilicious', which I also like :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

You also like? Does that mean you do like 'babelicious'? :)

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

Yes, smoochikins, I adore it :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll use it at every opportunity, Dumpling :)

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

DUMPLING???

That's what my parents call me when they're trying to persuade me to go on a diet! Not loving it, sadly

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

That was the idea, smoochikins. Again, it doesn't mean I think you're podgy (in this case I *don't*) it's just a *wonderful* way to tease you :)

Soon I'll be able to string a whole sentence together from words that make you shout aloud in blue :)

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

Huh. *checks out wordsmyth for alternative words to 'sulk'*

I seriously need to come up with some new endearments, my silly little sausage :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Meh. Now you're not trying, my eloquently previously bountifully-synonymed articulator! You can do better than 'sausage' :)

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

another parental nickname (for me) - I was running out of ideas. Cream puff :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

They call you SUASAGE? Can you divorce them?

Well, I'm not exactly *fond* of cream puff, but it's better than the annoying ones :)

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

This is a pretty weird competition to be having, huh?

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

There was a marvellous bit in one of the Neal Stephenson books where Dappa (freed slave) remarked to Daniel (mathmo protaganist) that they were having a strange conversation, and he replied that it rated barely 2 or 3 on his scale, (from 1=normal to 10=weirdest ever) where he often had two conversations rating 6 or 7 in a day, and Charles (bigoted dandy journalist) came up and began to explain how this related to politics to Dappa, but he kept assuming Dappa couldn't think, and was just well trained (eg. "I speak 15 languages" "Wow! Your old master must have been exceptionally erudite!"), and began to explain England resisting France by analogy to two baboons fighting for dominance, and Daniel described journalism as them flinging faeces at each other, but in such a way as Charles didn't see the insult, and eventually Charles asked Dappa leading questions about Eliza (female lead) and Dappa said he didn't think he should fling faeces at her; and when Charles left, Daniel said "Before you ask, that was a 10."

I feel like that a lot of the time. Dave Hodge scores a +3 bonus to any conversation, and CUWOCS doesn't hurt either :)

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

That sounds fun actually :) I really must check him out again one of these days

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I love him but he's a bit hard to get into, and unfortunately the baroque cycle is the worst for that.

I'd recommend you start by reading Diamond Age, or maybe Snow Crash, which are easier to get into, and if you like the style try Cryptonomicon, which is far and away my favorite.

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'll see what my library has.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I would normally lend you one, I love it if one of my books can make someone else as happy as it made me. But I wouldn't be able to while you're in london.

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

Likewise with Kushiel's Dart. I'll have to come up to Cambridge sometime. Who has the next bday?

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Tim's is mid-summer. Then yours, and mine next year. Je's just had hers. I really can't remember when Ji's or Ash's is <-is bloke :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Babblicious is great, though.

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

I don't mind that one :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

It could be construed as implying an insult... :)

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

Hell, I know I babble :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

And if you *were* fat, would you then not object to dumpling? I know I would :) So it's not just that :) It's that we *like* your babbling. I don't know where this is going, I was just thinking aloud.

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to start having to call you babbilicious :) I feel fat though.

Wow, this is getting profound :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

But that's an adjective. Besides, I don't babble except when I'm drunk; I ramble. Scott Adams is quite explicit in The Dilbert Principle: most babblers are women, though both sexes can achieve mastery, but the only true ramblers are men. I'm not a *master* ranmbler, but that's the way I tend.

Feel fat as in bloated inside, or fat as in pudgy, or fat as in looking fat...? Though whether it's all in your mind or not, keeping up with your gym routine must solve it sooner or later :)

Profound? Ahh! Where?