lathany

Well, the twins weighing clinic was today :

Weight :	lbs & ozs	kg	Centile
Ryan	14lbs 10oz	6.65	Just above the 50th
Beatrice	13lbs 0oz	5.92	Between the 25th & 50th

I was delighted with the weight gain in both cases (and cross with my own total lack of weight loss - the diet is still in progress, but seems to have stopped having an impact). They both have an adjusted age of 14 and a half weeks (3 and a half months), and an actual age of 27 weeks - so they have spent slightly more time outside of the womb than in it. This is rather scary. I must remember to email this info to their godparents, and to send them photographs of the two babies as well.

A final baby comment : The hospital are still in the process of setting up Bea's appointments, no further news on that.

On the computer games front; Final Fantasy X has paused whilst Dom (

bateleur) sorted out his Swordsmaster game and we have both done other things. In the case of the Swordsmaster game, it was time well spent. I thoroughly enjoyed finding the seventh cache (although it now appears more likely to be somewhere between the 15th and 19th cache); but I have no idea what to do next. I think rescuing an old friend would be a good plan...

I, meanwhile, have been ploughing through Chaos Gate (Warhammer 40,000 computer game). I thoroughly recommend the game; although I suspect it is out of stock everywhere these days (I bought it three years ago and Dom and I originally played it through together). I have gone through a large number of the Terminator missions, but have yet to meet either of the really big demons.

Swordsmaster for me is quiet right now as I am still waiting for dates from my players. I did receive a rather sweet Action Cat postcard from Krys (

quisalan) though (many thanks!). In the meantime I am likely to be writing a Swordsmaster one-off based in Lathany for an all-weekend game. Rob, Georgia, Martin and Dom will be making up the party. I am not quite sure where it will be set yet - possibly on the South-East border. It will be odd to set a game back in Lathany now that the main action has moved Northwards.

With what remains of my free time I am writing story. About once a month (well, actually, every couple of months) I write a one-off for some practice at different styles. The rest of the time I am working on a book-length fantasy story which I started when I was still living in Oxford. It is composed of three threads - relating to three different groups of beings. Two are human-like, the third are more bird-like. I have passed the 60,000 word mark and I am gaining speed as the end is starting to pull, distantly, into sight. I doubt that the finished tale will be publishable, but I am hoping that the practice will mean that a future story will be good enough to send out. The ballpark figure that new writers are given is that you have to write about a million words before you start producing publishable works. Even including all the one-offs I have ever composed, I am still some way off that magical figure.

In between baby feeds and writing I am checking on the Amazon web pages. As a Final Fantasy VII fan, I am considering buying the soundtrack to the game. I really, really like it and would probably listen to it enough to be worth the rather steep price tag. On the other hand, my common sense is intervening, suggesting that such a purchase is really the last word in sad. Not sure yet which instinct will win...

Current Mood: bouncy

Well, I preluded Dom yesterday - so I'm almost ready for the other players. This is as well 'cos they're arriving at 2pm. With luck I should get them into a boat and heading for the Athory shoreline fairly quickly.

I also played a lot of Baldur's Gate 2 expansion - Throne of Bhaal. It is far, far better than the Baldur's Gate 1 expansion (Tales of the Sword Coast) and I am enjoying it immensely. However, it has taken over much of my free time. It will be interesting to see how it all ends...

Star Wars was fun but, as expected, not as good as the original trilogy. I caught myself looking at my watch a few times meaning that the plot wasn't moving quickly enough. There was not enough material in the episode to match the film length. The brilliant thing about the first three was the way in which so much was crammed in.

For example, Star Wars itself dealt with the introduction of the three main characters, various side-characters, the initial capture of Leia, the fate of the droids and Tatooine, the Death Star coming on line, the rescue of Leia, the meeting of Darth and Obi-Wan, the escape from the Death Star and the attack and destruction of it (itself the first and, still, the best space fight ever filmed).

Star Wars 2 in comparison deals with the assassination attempts, Obi-Wan's investigations, the romance, Anakin's mother's death, the Clone vs droid fight and the battle with Count D-whatsit. The only main character introduced to the watcher is grown-up Anakin. Not as impressive. About the only introduced side-character was Count D-whatsit as we have already met the droids, Mr B Fett and the rest.

Also, I like surprises in films and, by definition, there are not as many in Star Wars 2 as in the original trilogy.

Right, now back to Athory preparations.

Current Mood: rushed

It has been a quiet week.

Over the weekend I finished off the last of the interludes - ready for my Swordsmaster game on Sunday. Hopefully, the characters should all now feel they have background to work with. Some were harder to write than others, Bryanna's took me the longest, but I was pleased with the final ideas. I still have to do Dom's prelude, but there should be time. I also know the soundtrack to VF4 off by heart (or it feels like it).

On Monday I spent the non-twins part of the day hoping Baldurs Gate Throne of Bhaal would show up soon and playing Chaos Gate.

On Tuesday, I refused the kind offer of a couple of ladies to help me fight my fears of crime by studying the messages of the Bible. I also coped with a couple of ill twins - both had caught slight colds (and were somewhat whingy).

Yesterday was the unpleasant part of the week - I went to the dentist and had a filling. Fortunately, that's it for another six months. Plus they want a photo of the twins (I must remember to put some post-hospital photos on the web).

Today I managed two baths (one for each twin). Bea loved hers, but Ryan panicked when he touched the water and needed to be calmed down. He's getting pretty big for that bath anyway - perhaps he's claustrophobic.

Overall, I'm having a reasonable week. My diet is still working slowly (10lbs gone, 12lbs to go) and I reckon I'll be finished by the end of July. I would like to have written more of my story, but the Swordsmaster preparation is more urgent. There'll be time next week for story, Throne of Bhaal, Chaos Gate and Final Fantasy VI.

I had a feeling this morning that I was being watched. I looked out of the window - nothing. They I glanced at the playmat and discovered that Ryan and Bea were both awake and had rotated around so that they could both see me. When I looked up, they both broke into smiles simultaneously.

It's only a matter of time before they figure out that a smile can get you out of most things. Except baths.

Current Mood: happy

Episode 2 is nearly upon us and I'm trying to arrange to see it in Feltham on the Friday. I've sent an email out to see if anyone wants to join us, and it looks like Martin, at least, will be coming along. (Anyone else interested ?)

Meanwhile, last night went incredibly well. Bella and Louise came over and we played Mah Jong (which was great 'cos I won ! ;-) ). This was after we read the few hundred different rules versions on the web (the traditional Chinese rules, the modern Japanese rules, etc. etc.). I got to hear all the office gossip and the staff changes. It's weird - I miss the people, but I don't miss having to play office politics. I was never terribly good at it anyway (I've been told by my boss that I'm too honest - which bodes).

Sadly, after last night (sausage casserole, fruit salad, Ralph-recommended wine and After Eights) my diet has taken something of a set back. I hate shedding post-pregnancy weight, but at least I'm getting somewhere (apart from minor glitches). I've lost 9lbs and have another 12 lbs to go (possibly more if I want to go below my pre-pregnancy weight). Not bad in the 8 weeks that include my birthday and Easter.

The twins behaved themselves very well yesterday, despite suffering from their 4 month polio immunisation. Plus they finally did a 10 hour sleep-through-the-night (actually a sleep through the evening). We took them to the clinic this morning to weigh them :

Ryan - 13lbs (a gain of 8oz in 2 weeks)
Beatrice - 10lbs 14oz (a gain of 11oz in 2 weeks)

And the health visitor wants me to start them on solids - which I've been putting off. (Nightmares of food thrown at every wall).

Plus, I should be getting on with Swordsmaster preparation. I'm half-way through, but have only a week left.

Current Mood: happy

A weekend full of visitors - Rob, Georgia, Martin and Reu all came to see us.

Rob, Georgia and Martin visited on Saturday stayed to play Lord of the Rings (with expansion set). We lost. So then Martin stuck around to have a second attempt. We again lost. We should have won, but

bateleur has already written an account of this (so I won't go over the misery again). Reu visited on Sunday after having been to a leaving party (for Mike and Jez) in central London. No-one mentioned the LOTR boardgame to him, strangely enough.

I've been balancing my time between feeds, LOTR boardgame, nappy changes, Babylon 5 (season 3) and talking to visitors. I've also done a tiny bit of Swordsmaster campaign (restarting in a very few weeks :-) ).

However now I want to get on and write some more story stuff - my big novel-thing is about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through and I really want to finish it soon. Assuming that my two awake babies will let me. ;-)

Current Mood: creative

I'm getting away from my twins this evening. I'm going into London to meet some work friends at Victoria. The conversation will be more about recent work happenings and the fortunes of Wimbledon football club and have less "Waaahh, Waaahhhhh !" in it.

Dom is on babysitting duty, although he gets the use of both computers (I won't be around to hog either of them).

In the meantime, my Athory campaign plans are going well - I've updated Roland and I've nearly finished Taronus. Two down, three to go. Hopefully this should be an interesting sequel to the Lathany campaign.

Current Mood: hopeful

I have bathed about a stone of baby and then taken him and his twin sister for a walk to get their food. Moving around seems about the only thing which is almost guaranteed to keep them quiet.

I've also finished season 2 of Babylon 5 which I have been watching whilst I have been feeding babies. I'll have to see if my parents can lend me season 3...

Fortunately, I have preparations for my Swordsmaster campaign to keep me sane. Still haven't heard from one of the players yet though.

Looks meaningfully at

quisalan.