Hop 2 It
Sunday, 15 January, 2006
Yesterday, after doing a little grocery shopping, trying to get some editing done for H/E (and only managing to do one article) and getting distracted by an interesting bit of boondoggle engineering, we got out the picnic stuff, hopped in the car, picked up Liwen and headed over to Sydney Olympic Park for Movies in the Overflow. We got there at about 6 pm when there was plenty of free 2 hr parking spaces. Melinda met us and we found a nice spot on the edge of one of the pathways. It was still quite sunny and, as usual, I had forgotten to bring my hat (though I had smothered myself in sunscreen and Aeroguard). Ynping and Andrew were running half an hour late so we played Emperor Scum, teaching the rules as we went. I don't think I've played Emperor Scum in three years; it used to be a real favourite amongst my circle of friends at Uni. And, in the three or four round we played, I always came out Emperor and Melinda always came out Scum.
The bill for that evening was Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and the area was filling up pretty quickly with families and groups of friends. The officials in the Overflow were enforcing the rule that high chairs (meaning people who had brought proper chairs) had to be up the back, leaving everyone else a pretty good view of the screen. We spotted Ynping and Andrew on the edge of the crowd but, despite jumping up and down and waving our arms around, they didn't spot us for several minutes.
I had delegated everyone to bring certain things for dinner so Melinda had tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and ham for sandwiches; Ynping and Andrew had brought a BBQ chicken all cut up (as well as Ynping's famous spinach and cream cheese dip plus crackers); Ben and I had brought drinks, bread and Changi's noodle salad; and Liwen provided the chocolate, popcorn and, for some reason, peppermint candy canes. So we had a lovely little feast in the middle of the throng and got thoroughly stuffed. And then Ben and Mel went off to move their cars into paid parking zones so they wouldn't get booked.
Finally, after much yapping by Richard Moorcock on screen, a preview of 2006 for Channel 9 (which, I have to say, did not look that interesting), advertising for Sydney Olympic Park (Movies in the Overflow and Music by Moonlight), and trailers for the other films that will be on this week, the movie got started. And then it began to sprinkle.
Between the six of us we had three umbrellas and we apportioned them out and braved the rain. It never got really heavy and we were able to just weather things through and enjoy the movie. And enjoy it we did! (Apart from the idiot who had the laser pointer and had no scruples about using it. A student did that once at Unimovies when I was a student at the University of Wollongong. Since Unimovies was run by the Unimovies club, the members didn't think twice about shutting off the projector and declaring to everyone in the audience that the person who had the laser pointer had better stop, otherwise the film would not come back on for anyone. That person then discretely refrained).
Interesting trivia about the film from IMDB:
Even before the release of the film, the only producer of Stinking Bishop cheese in the world had their orders increase over 500%. The producer only makes 22 tons of the cheese annually and has no intention to grow in size.
Afterwards, I suggested coming back to our place for mahjong. Mel had to bail but the others were keen so we drove off to Stanmore. This was the first time that any of my friends from school had come over and we made honey and banana milkshakes in the kitchen before settling down to some serious mahjong.
A couple of years ago I had asked my dad for a set and he had brought one back from Hong Kong. He was going through Australian customs and immigration with nothing to declare and one of the officials said to him, “Sir, there's food in your bag.” “No there isn't,” he said. But the scanners had picked up something so they opened up his bag and there was the mahjong set, looking for all the world like Vietnamese sweet jellies.
Ynping was the one who first taught me how to play mahjong. I think the dealing process alone is fascinating because of its complexity: you mix up all the tiles and then each of the four players builds their wall—18 across, 2 high (or 17 across, 2 high if you're playing without flowers). You roll the dice and count anti-clockwise from the dealer. Whoever it lands on has to count the number on the dice from the right along his/her wall, make a break and then, dealing from the left side of the break, deals 3 x 4 tiles to everyone, starting from the roller, and then do the funny jump thing to give 2 more to the roller and 1 more to everyone else. And that's just to deal!
It had been 2 years since most of us had played. I think it had been just 1 year for me because I had taken my set to National Training Event and taught some of the students how to play. We were all a bit rusty on the rules, particularly Andrew. Ynping went through them all and said, “When you've only got to get one tile to win, you say, ‘Sic jaw’ and then, when you win, you say, ‘Sic [I've forgotten the word]’.”
“And when it's time for dinner, you say, ‘Sic fan’?” said Andrew.
Ynping shot him a dirty look.
“I've been waiting two years to tell that joke!” he said.
Re-beginner's luck must have been with Andrew and Liwen because, between the two of them, they won just about every game. Ynping and I continued to get useless hands dealt to us.
When we finally finished up, it was 2 in the morning. I told everyone to leave the tiles out because I was going to wash the table scum off them. Then we said farewell and goodnight and I dropped Liwen home.
Current:
seen: Moon 15/10/2009
read: The Incredibles 11/10/2009
seen: She's the Man 05/10/2009
read: I Kill Giants (Joe Kelly and J. M. Ken Niimura) 04/10/2009
read: Astro City The Dark Ages Book 1: Brothers and Other Strangers (Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross) 04/10/2009
seen: Children of Men 02/10/2009
seen: Metric (The Metro) 30/09/2009
seen: 500 Days of Summer 25/09/2009
seen: The September Issue 18/09/2009
seen: Gilmore Girls: Season 1 17/09/2009
read: Flight (Volume 1) (edited by Kazu Kibuishi) 16/09/2009
seen: Ponyo 11/09/2009
read: Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? (Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert) 05/09/2009
heard: Aimee Mann (Enmore Theatre) 04/09/2009
heard: Ben Folds Solo (Opera House) 31/08/2009
read: Phonogram: Rue Britannia (Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie) 26/08/2009
seen: Northanger Abbey 20/08/2009
read: The Princess Diaries (Meg Cabot) 18/08/2009
seen: The Phantom of the Opera 17/08/2009
seen: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 10/08/2009
seen: District 9 10/08/2009
read: Shortcomings (Adrian Tomine) 02/08/2009
read: AIR Volume 1: Letters from Lost Countries (Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker) 28/07/2009
seen: Persepolis 25/07/2009
seen: Ghost Town 25/07/2009
heard: Gutter Twins (Seymour Centre) 23/07/2009
seen: Coco Avant Chanel 20/07/2009
seen: Gutenberg! The Musical (Seymour Centre) 16/07/2009
seen: So You Think You Can Dance? Australia Live Tour (Sydney Entertainment Centre) 11/07/2009
seen: Every Little Step 07/07/2009
seen: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen 03/07/2009
seen: Synecdoche, New York 30/06/2009
seen: Charlie's Angels 27/06/2009
seen: Penelope 26/06/2009
seen: Coraline 10/06/2009
seen: The Sky Crawlers 08/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Ultimatum 07/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Supremacy 07/06/2009
seen: The Bourne Identity 06/06/2009
seen: Stick it 05/06/2009
Comment:
Congratulations again 
Don’t laminate your ultrasound picture That is my advice.
Congratulations! This is so fantastic!
Thanks so much for sharing all of this… people swap engagement stories but rarely pregnancy stories! And it’s kind of similar don’t you think, all this excitement leading up to a big day!
So happy for you guys! Actually never been more excited for anyone except my sister! I think it’s because I think that you will both be amazing parents and love the idea that someone could grow up in your family.
Looking forward to many more posts on the topic.
Lovely news, Karen.
Thanks everyone! I will be sure to ask for help when I need it!
Great pic!! Peanut is cute! :D
Praying for you all!
xx
:D
I had a similar sort of morning sickness.. except I threw up! I’m suitably impressed that you coped OS.. that must have been tough.
It sounds like you’re doing marvelously otherwise!
Book recommendation on something a bit less technical and a bit more human: ‘Birth’ http://www.birthnet.com.au/
Praise be to God indeed! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Congratulations, Beilharzen! Welcome to the slightly-bewildering world of pregnancy (and birth...and children...). God has blessed you greatly with this new life. We’ll be praying for Peanut’s growth and development, and for you guys as you prepare.
I’m sure you’re surrounded by baby veterans, but always happy to help with books/advice/recommendations/listening.
B&L;
Excellent job Karen! You SHOULD be pleased with yourself!
Have you discovered http://www.ravelry.com ? It is an excellent site with thousands of free patterns in its database, lots of support, tips, forums etc and of course - friends like me? Look me up when you get there - fionag77
PS Are you just wearing a bulky dress or are you sporting a bump under that dress?
oooh.... It’s done and it looks great on you! xxx
Well done on all that hard work! It looks great and will be very snuggly come winter!
Thanks for letting me know, Timo!
Hi there,
Thanks for pointing out the shortcoming on our website. I’ll pass it on to my colleagues and hopefully it will be rectified soon.
The documentary at Fashioning Now was by Holly Kaye-Smith; I’d be more than happy to put you in touch with her if you’d like.
Again, thanks for the comment, much appreciate it!
Kind regards,
Timo Rissanen
Thanks Mark! Much appreciated!
Rich survey, Karen. Particularly I was struck by the notion of Jesus being clothed with our sins. I heard recently somebody suggest the crown of thorns was a kings crown but it was made of the symbol of the curse in the Garden - thorns. I would like to read your thoughts about Joseph’s coat of many colours.
Looking forward to the next installment. Regards,Mark
It is lovely - and looks great on you.
You’ve made me want to read it - though I may need an interpreter at times!
Well done with the sewing!
I think it looks good - very relaxed and spring-y.
Hey Sandra! Thanks for the tip! I read it yesterday, but I struggled a bit because Lewis doesn’t start from the Bible. I wasn’t convinced by his argument. What did you think?
Interesting post Karen - Thanks
I like the ending too! :D
xxx
Fantastic post, Karen. Just great. Thanks!
Thanks Bec! Eternal life just keeps getting better and better ...
I do like the way you ended this post - excellent thought.
Personally I don’t feel that way. Maybe that’s something you should blog about?
Wow. Lots of things to pick up on there. It’s been interesting to see the changes to your blog these last 6-12 months: Twitter is certainly more immediate, but are there (gasp) downsides to having its constant buzz in the ear?
Is our (already fractured) ability to concentrate on a single relationship at a time further jeapordised by the regular buzz of tweetdeck (and worse yet, by the imagined sense of loss that goes with being off the grid)?
Or am I just projecting my own fears?
Hi Karen!
If you’re still thinking about this… I just read CS Lewis’s essay “Learning in War-time” which exactly addresses this issue (ie. how can we justify cultural & aesthetic pursuits when people are going to hell around us?). Have you read it? i’d be interested to hear what you think..
(i have it in his little volume “Transposition and other Addresses”, but it’s easily findable online)
I’m doing my own series on the trials and tribulations of writing on my own blog here http://sedshed.blogspot.com/search/label/From%20Head%20to%20Hand
It’s coming along slowly
Coincidentily, I stumbled upon the above Phonogram vs. the Fans cover when digging around for ID concepts for Salt. A disturbingly brilliant image.
Thanks Karen. At the very least, this post gives some context to your myriad of phonogram tweets. At best, it has reinvigorated my stagnated appreciation of comics.
Seriously, though 4,549 words. Is that the best you can do? I say, longer!
Hey @RodeoClown! Yes, I neglected to mention Gillen writes about gaming. Guan said once he had the ideal job: writing, comics and games.
As far as I know, McKelvie doesn’t trace photos; he just draws (so talented ...)
You should give Phonogram a try. Be warned, though: series 1 is a little different to series 2—still clever but there are some things that are a bit strange in it if you’re not used to the fantastic.
Whoops, I stuffed up that link, sorry.
It was to Rock Paper Shotgun where he writes (he also has a standalone blog as well.
I didn’t know Gillen wrote comics until I saw the last phongram reference you made on here. It’s odd as I only knew of him as a videogame jounalist (which he is also really good at).
I read the sample issue of phonogram they have up at the Image comics (I think) site.
It looked pretty interesting - I like the subtlety involved in telling the story - the references aren’t all forciby thrust into your brain by the writer.
Do you know if the art is done by tracing photos or just dtawn?
I certainly don’t understand enough about pop music to really get that comic series, but I’m glad you’ve shared how you came to appreciate comics.
I’d say go and make some short comics. Seems like it will make the longer stuff easier to put together.
You’re right. I don’t really understand. But I do so love reading your writing. It’s like you’re speaking inside my head and excitedly telling me something.
Thanks Sarah! Feel free to share your own thoughts on the subject.
I’m a Christian, I’m a writer (well, I’m working on my first novel which is nearing completion) and I felt your post so PERFECTLY captured the dilemmas I’ve been thinking about.
KAREN!!!! it looks so amazing!!! i cant believe how beautiful it is. Everyone at work is just amazed at how talented you are. I’ll get in contact with you soon xx
I love it, Karen. You must teach me how to do this.
Blinks:
Vision therapy as a treatment for ADHD, learning disabilities and even autism. The scientific community's opinion. The results of concentrated therapy.
Kieron Gillen on Phonogram, Siege, Ares, Loki and his collaborative relationship with Jamie McKelvie.
Superheroes and how they have changed the way we see urban landscape. Their attraction to New York.
Kieron Gillen talking about Phonogram's run and the effect it had on its audience.
Guy Gavriel Kay's official website.
ESV in MP3 form: complete BIble is USD 30.00.
The hazards of noise for children because their ears are more sensitive.
Digital billboards: distracting for drivers or will the regulations keep them from becoming hazards? Do the benefits outweigh the disadvantages?
By William Poundstone. Sounds like an interesting book.
The future of shopping with mobile phones. Aggressive merchandising. Privacy issues.
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Comments
Hey Karen. Do you think you’d be interested in seeing SpongeBob Square Pants this Sat night at Homebush? Let me know if you are....(email please
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