[F] Maskerade Meet Report and Quote File
MegaMole
This humble mole (alto), DMark, Peter (tenor), PThomas, Rand and his
stealth bow-tie, An~ejo, Pocahontas^W Charissa (soprano I), Suzi
(soprano II), Gid (oompah) and Walter Plinge^W^W Charissa's SO Piers.
Afpmeet debut for Charissa and Piers.
======================================================================
Meet Report:
We foregathered in the Moon Under Water on Charing Cross Road - a hard
core of afpers had turned up by 4pm. The "pub"'s bizarre decor, with
strange sea-blue and terracotta paintwork and a most irritating
refusal to serve cabbage dakrys, invited some muttering. Next to
arrive was An~ejo, in a newly bought seat cover^W^W evening dress (in
which she looked rather fetching, BTW), who bore cccbs and Maya Gold.
Without which no afpmeet is complete. It took rather longer for us to
try DMark's reindeer droppings...
Peter bemoaned a complete hard disk failure which necessitated hurried
backups and an early departure for the meet. Stated reason:
appointment with a geek in Cambridge. Pointing out that there were
geeks and pgeeks aplenty at the meet cut no ice with Mr. Ellis.
Later, Charissa (on crutches) and SO arrived. The poor dear had
sprained both ankles; this did NOT prevent her and this mole ducking
into a corner for some fervent music geeking (with assistance from
Peter).
Comments were made that one of the real ales looked and tasted like
raspberry herbal tea. This mole quite liked it, actually. He liked
it so much he burst into song...
Whereupon Gid, fed up by the factory atmosphere and too many people,
led us to the selfsame pub (The Angel) where the post-CJ Signing meet
took place. A hungry PThomas and Rand decamped for a fish and chip
supper. The rest of us supped the beer that Unca Gid had thoughtfully
picked out. More beer was drunk, Charissa and An~ejo took more
photographs (GIF! GIF!) and PThomas found more uses for a bag.
Charissa revealed that she was responsible for introducing Pterrybooks
into the wilds of Russia. Any takers for "Tsvet Magiki" or "Muzika
Dushi"? An~ejo objected that Charissa was being too relevant. The
topics changed back to the usual.
Then we all went our separate ways, and tried once again to fight the
beast which haunts London - namely, a half-closed Underground system.
======================================================================
Quote File:
Peter: PThomas is just trying to imagine me in suspenders.
Peter: (ob Ankh-Morpork Anthem and forthcoming arrangement of it by
Jonathan) Four-part harmony _in_ Carol? Now that would be
bizarre!
An~ejo: Waitrose is the Organic Supermarket of the Year. Where else
can you get cccbs and Maya Gold?
Mole: Are you sure it's Or_gan_ic...?
Peter: PThomas, do you want to plug and play?
An~ejo: (ob bizarre pub decor) This is one of those pubs where you see
characters from American sitcoms.
Rand: (at 5:05 pm) What am I doing up this early?
Peter: You do sheds? (ie. uk.rec.sheds)
DMark: (blank look)
Peter: Oh, so only in the mating season.
An~ejo: I gave up on Doctor Who when they showed us how to make Daleks
on Blue Peter...
Mole: I'm sure you can use pickled cabbage for that.
An~ejo: But a cabbage dakry is rather disgusting.
Peter: (obLeo Breebaart) I hate short people too. (looking at An~ejo
and realising his mistake) Except you, you're taller inside.
Peter: (to An~ejo) Come back home and let me show you my
(fruit)flies.
An~ejo: He's scaring me!
Peter: I'm just being a duck...
Mole: Where's PThomas? Out cottaging?
Peter: No, he's bungalowing. It's similar but lower.
An~ejo: It's a bit big, isn't it?
PThomas: There are straps... there are _always_ straps...
Mole: (on seeing Gid and Suzi) - Ah, the AFP seal of meet approval
has arrived!
Suzi: Relevance at an afpmeet? *boggle* This is a first!
An~ejo: (seeing just how much stuff Thomas keeps in his bag) Your bag
is a Tardis!
PThomas: I think I'll go to Old Compton St. and see what I can get for
a quid fifty.
Gid: Most of them, I think.
Charissa: Oh, I see - castrati are countertenors with bits chopped
off...
Charissa: A lottery ticket vendor asked me for my ID the other day...
Here endeth the quotefile. Those who have things to add, speak now or
forever hold your /dev/null.
======================================================================
--
*MegaMole - The Official Enrico Basilica and Chairblob of AFPMadrigal*
Afpfiance of Julia H (xxxxx), Carol, Vonnie^H Shiv and An~ejo (wibble)
Molehill Digger, Nnith Thrid, Lord High Screecher of the Counterblasts
The Molehill is at http://www.countertenor.demon.co.uk/molehill.html
Peter Ellis
>
>Peter bemoaned a complete hard disk failure which necessitated hurried
>backups and an early departure for the meet. Stated reason:
>appointment with a geek in Cambridge. Pointing out that there were
>geeks and pgeeks aplenty at the meet cut no ice with Mr. Ellis.
>
The geek got a new HDD into my machine with much cursing (how to
repartition a disk and install a different OS when the partition
utilities are on a separate computer in a different college -- answer,
format the primary partition, reinstall Windows, curse it into working
with the network, copy the files onto Zip disk, reboot to dos,
repartition, format, reinstall Windows again etc. etc.....)
However, this is when we discovered that my backup utility had carefully
copied all files *except* the crucial registry and system files...
After several failed attempts to cajole the dying old hard drive to
yield the required files, (necessitating another two Windows installs as
various approaches were tried), we gave up.
Geek retired to bed at 4am, leaving me to deltree c:\windows, reinstall
Windows and *every* other major package I possess, in order to basically
rebuild anew the lost registry.
It's now 11:30 and I've just finished, having re-downloaded using the
bandwidth requirements of a medium-sized country), re-installed and re-
configured Netscape, Opera, Eudora, Gravity, WinZip, Adobe Acrobat,
RealAudio, Sun's Java plugins; as well as the mere formalities of
installing Plus!, MS Works, the Zip tools, the video, sound, network
drivers, and of course installing Windows FIVE TIMES!
Argle. And I've got a rehearsal for "Die Schone Mullerin" at two, then
choir from 4:10 till 7 -- followed by a choir party to welcome the new
term. Things could get interesting.
Anyway, panic is now over, but I feel I must add a few words to the
canon of Discworld Liff in commemoration of the struggle
*Kring*: The irritatingly cheerful tinkling sound made by a hard disk
just before it dies flamboyantly and irrevocably.
*Caderack*: The sort of clickety-grinding sound which follows Kring.
*Urt*: The state of your eyes after twelve solid hours sorting it out
again.
Peter
Peter Ellis
>
>We foregathered in the Moon Under Water on Charing Cross Road - a hard
>core of afpers had turned up by 4pm. The "pub"'s bizarre decor, with
>strange sea-blue and terracotta paintwork
>
And a sort of soft diffused "ambience" rather than real lighting, which
meant that a) we sat in a slight aura of gloom and b) nobody could do
"Deformed Rabbit".
>
>Later, Charissa (on crutches) and SO arrived. The poor dear had
>sprained both ankles; this did NOT prevent her and this mole ducking
>into a corner for some fervent music geeking (with assistance from
>Peter).
>
And why not?
>
>Quote File:
>
You know, I'm sure we'd agreed to suppress a couple of those...
Peter
Thomas Pratchett
>You know, I'm sure we'd agreed to suppress a couple of those...
So did I... I don't think I remember some of them actually being written
down...
<fx: checks arm> No, they weren't written down... well not on my replacement
pad after the Mole left... (underside of left arm)
be excellent to eachother and party on,
Thomas