Lathany

I'm glad it seems a little warmer today, although this may be because I'm feeling a little better.

Below is a picture of the pendant that bateleur got me for Xmas (along with a coffee bean grinder). It's quite large, but rather beautiful.



I've worn it a couple of times so far.

Tomorrow I may post about the fight that ao_lai and I had against the beastie pictured below.

But right now I don't want to talk about it.



(And, no, whatever lanfykins says, it isn't cute.)

Last night Reeve entered into a bit of socialising by sleeping on my feet. It was nice - he doesn't often choose to join us.

Today has been another walk, more Dragon Age and generally pottering around.

I like this holiday lark.

We've wrapped all the presents (except my parents' as I won't see them before January). We've been out for a walk and the shopping was all done on Thursday.

I keep wondering whether there's something I've forgotten.

This holly is from the garden. It's actually a couple of weeks old - turns out that it keeps really well.



Also, I have a whole week off. I haven't had that much time off since last summer. I'm planning some game prep.

I have one more day of work. I'll be doing it at home though, so I'll avoid commuting. I'll probably get up at my usual time so that I'm done early. Also, it means I should be OK by the time the hospital ring.

From what I can gather, lots of other people finished today. Although not quite all. I think tomorrow's going to feel very sluggish.

I have a mix of Christmas traditions. An advent candle and calendar - the latter chosen for artwork rather than chocolates. Then there are the trees, writing cards, making mince pies and - any year I'm at home - making a Christmas cake.

There are also the work events - the team meal and the all-office food and quiz. The last of these happened today. We came last. In part because, for once, I was in a team with people all very close to my own age. So we missed all the things that the younger generations managed and all those that the older generations did. Plus, there wasn't a literature round (but instead three geography rounds and two tube station rounds - although we did well at the latter).

I also have a computing tradition - The Secret World Xmas events. Plus usually replaying one of my point-and-click games. Whether the latter will happen this year, I don't know, because I have a new one lined up that I want to try (Shardlight).

We've just watched the third Divergent film - Allegiant. It's really rather awful. It's got a very different plot to the book and I much prefer the book. Not least because the book characters are not nearly so black and white.

This week, instead of Star Wars, we played The Secret World. We did The Christmas Conspiracy and then then main dungeon. I pretended to be a tank and we managed to win that on our third attempt.



Also, I discovered that neither ao_lai or Alistair has seen Super Hel before. Apparently it was only me and chrisvenus last time.

It's been a quiet weekend and I've been working through various tasks. Over the last couple of days I've made my way through a large amount of washing, cleaned the kitchen floor (a long task because, whilst the floor isn't very big, there are a lot of things that stand on it and need moving), finished the Christmas cake and continued to write Christmas cards. I've also replaced the holly on the dining room table with some fresher stalks and been out for walks on both days.

And I still love my Christmas tree. Which is sad, but true.

Yesterday I met venta for dinner at Tas near Waterloo. We had starters and mains (the website is down, but I had a starter of parcels of cheese and beef and a main of a garlic and prawn casserole and both were excellent). We also shared a bottle of White Rioja and finished with coffees.

In fact, apart from the change of location, it had a lot in common with last year.

Update: The website is now up and I had the Paçanga and the Karides Güveç with rice.