dissonance

Bongiorno!

More later.
Ciao!

My numberwang nightmare

A couple of days ago I went to play bingo with some coworkers of mine.  Yup, bingo.  No longer relegated to grandmothers with blue hair, bingo has been slowly taking a turn to appeal to a younger (still dominantly female) audience.  Well, at least in the UK.

The bingo hall was much much bigger than I expected. Here's about half the room:

When the game started the numbers are called out by a guy standing on the front stage:

And dudes, the game is FAST.  And it's not like "B-24... that's B... 24...".  They say a number from 1 through 90 and you have to find that number on your set of game cards.  They just ramble a number one after another with barely a pause until someone shouts bingo.  Well actually, I don't think I heard anyone say "Bingo".  More like, "Yup!" or "Yeah!".  I wish I won, I could totally see myself shouting "Aw yeah bingo biotches!"

For each round you can win 3 ways: Across 1 row, 2 rows or all three rows (full house).  We had two winners in our group who got £10-£15.  Why are people getting so excited about such little returns?  Well some rounds are actually "linked" to other Bingo halls around the country and everyone plays to win £10,000+ for a full house!  Nae bad at all.

Me, I didn't do so good at first.  All the numbers being shouted out is not very good for my Maths Fears.  But after I realize I don't have to do anything with the numbers besides essentially point at them, I did start to enjoy dotting my cards with the special pen:

Yeah I'm totally into blue nail polish right now.

In between rounds you could also play mini Bingo with these cards at the table:

But I didn't play because Ho-Lee-Sheet, the girl who says the numbers over the loud speaker is FAST!  And she uses this sing songey voice that insists on drilling a hole in your ear to drive you to the brink of insanity.

But don't let that stop you from having a listen

Coming soon to the Wii

Weekend planning after we realize how broke we are after the France trip and how broke we will be for saving for the August US trip:

"What can we do that doesn't need spending?"
"I was thinking about just staring.  At the wall."
"Staring at the wall?  Didn't you tell me once you went nuts climbing the walls because of boredom?"
"That was because I was all by myself at the house and lonely.  You can look at the walls with me."
"And how is that better...?"
"Come on...!  It'll be great.  Multiplayer wall watching."

La Tania write up

Long overdue post about this year's snowboarding trip to France (this is a the beginnings of a very welcome tradition).  Last year was Morzine,  and this year we stayed in La Tania, nestled within the world famous Corchevel resort.

We flew into Geneva and wrestled with an incomprehensible map to drive to our cabin in La Tania.

Map of France or diagram of heart cells? (I've been watching a lot of House DVDs lately)

I'll leave you to the album for the rest of the trip related pictures so let's just highlight some of the more random moments:

Hut on rock

This picture reminds me of this post on Dooce:

The perils of carrying your lunch on the mountain:

That forlorn object in Hendy's hand is  the remains of his afternoon banana. The glow behind him is God calling the banana' s spirit home.

Heh heh:

After you peruse the album photos, you can mosey on over to the knitblog because hello, of course I knit hats!  (And there are loads more pictures on Craig's album)

Yuck

Even though it seems like a million miles away, I'm keeping tabs on home.  I know it's easy to get caught up on the frivolities that make America so fun to live in, but it's an important time for us and trust me, the world is watching.

This is appalling. I'm disgusted Sally Kern is supposed to be a representative.  No public servant should feel they can say such hateful things in private, when in fact, we all heard it.  Describing gay people as a bigger threat than terrorists?  That is vile and insults the memory of those affected by real evil. Ridiculous. By using her position of power to implicitly condone such hatred, she herself is becoming a tool for violence.

I've lost track what number "home" this is

I've moved again! Yes, AGAIN!

I didn't mention it before because, well, I moved across the hall.  The story is complicated and stupid. Let's just call my landlords a bunch of wanks and swiftly move on to what you really care about: Pictures!

Like my last room, this one is also full of character.  I dunno, it must be from living in boring condos and town houses all these years, but I am easily impressed.

Check it out, I have a (nonworking) fireplace IN MY ROOM:

Ugh I was in too much a rush to get the tripod out so it's all blurry even though this was like the 10th shot I took.

I really like the detailed molding on the mantel:

Do you see the curtains at my window in the reflection? I've got curtain swags, IN MY ROOM!

Speaking of molding, they love that stuff here.  This one on the ceiling is especially inspiring in a Hemlock Blanket kind of way (knitters know what I'm talking about)

And yup, I still have a chandelier IN MY ROOM:

Woah someone needs switch to decaf

When you buy tea here at work you can get it in a paper cup or a ceramic mug.  I opt for the mug 70% of the time because it seems less wasteful, keeps the tea hot for longer, and paper cups tend to add a cardboard-ish taste to the tea which my tea palate has been refined to detect in the past year.

Well today is a sad day folks.

I have been informed that we can no longer get mugs because of health and safety reasons. Something about mugs don't have plastic covers so they might spill and possibly possibly cause a low grade, wimpy burn, the type people forget about by the next commercial break. 

UM, excuse me, but the paper cups don't come with covers either.  You have to get one yourself from the milk and sugar counter.  So unless they plan on putting spill barricades in the 5 foot walk from the till to the counter, this reasoning doesn't fly. 

NEWSFLASH: LIQUIDS ARE LIQUIDY AND HAVE A TENDENCY TO SPILL.

ALSO, no one is forcing anyone to use a mug!! If someone is so frightened of spilling, then get a freaking paper cup!

ACTUALLY, if someone might sue because of tea spillage you know what, THEY DON'T DESERVE TEA and their tea drinking privileges should be taken away. Maybe put a sign on them that says, "Tea is a weapon of mass destruction in my hands" to warn others. 

But yeah, don't punish the rest of us who are slightly more coordinated than a 5 year old.

I just had a revelation. I think it's all a conspiracy and they just don't want to wash the mugs anymore.  Cheap, lazy, mother earth killing bastards.