Not about Parcelfarce, honest
Calmer now.
Skirmish
The return visit to Urban Assault proved as enjoyable as the last. Some 140 people present this time. One surprise was that, even with the standard gearbox, the AUG was still (slightly) over the site's power limits at 305fps! Oh well, I got myself a velocity reducer so I should be OK for next time.
Highlight of the day was defending our flag at the top of a stairwell. I found myself reduced to a pistol when my M-16 ran out of battery power (!), got the first two to storm up the stairs then caught a grenade launcher blast (more of a shotgun really) discharging some 150 pellets! Oh well, at least it was a spectacular way to go... Only downside was catching a pellet on joint of one of right-hand fingers but fortunately, stiffness is almsot gone. Just as well, given I have a fencing match tomorrow. And, of course, all this is as nothing compared with the bruises, bleeding and other injuries kabukivice and co enountered when paintballing that same day!
Oh, and I got yet more Nintendoflage, a set of US Army ACUPAT cammies from a guy who found they were too small for him. Guess I need a boonie hat to go with it before next skirmish... And we have already been talking about going to next game on 3 April. Heh. If I go to that, in the space of a month, I'll have matched my total number of outings for last year!
Jury duty
Man, this is a weird one. No case details but...
Reported for jury duty on Monday morning. BTW, great way to alarm family: my sister called while we were sitting waiting to be selected. "Where are you?" "Wood Green Crown Court" "WHAT?!?" ;-)
Got picked for a jury around 11.00, one hour off for lunch, finished at 4.00, came back the next day at 10.00, sat around until noon only to be called into court to be told we were being dismissed (usher would only say "fireworks") as a jury and then to call in today to check when to come in next.
So, I called in, woman I spoke to said I wasn't on her list, disappeared and then came back on to say I was being released from jury duty. For the sake of maintaining my confidence in the court system, I am trying hard to convince myself that I wasn't on her list because I had been released, not vice-versa.
Nonetheless, I am deeply irritated by all this. Three weeks I've been idle because there wasn't enough time between end of last contract and start of jury duty for another contract, only to spend 1.5 days on jury duty, of which only half a day was actually spent sitting in on a case. Goddammit!
Still, I've had a heads-up that there's a full-ish pipeline of work coming up in Germany. Time for another overeas tour of duty, I guess...
Cousin's visit
My cousin Sharon is in town on business from Malaysia so I met her this evening. It was pretty nice catching up on gossip from back in Malaysia. One weird thing. Apparently, at my sister's wedding last Summer, it seems a girl was flirting with me. Huh. Alas, she didn't know who this alleged female was! You'd think I'd have noticed... Anyway, we also caught a performance of Jailhouse Rock, a musical based on Elvis' music, recommended by one of her colleagues. It proved to be an awful lot of fun, highlights being Suspicious Minds and Burning Love. Definitely been way too long since I went to a theatrical performance.
Skirmish
The return visit to Urban Assault proved as enjoyable as the last. Some 140 people present this time. One surprise was that, even with the standard gearbox, the AUG was still (slightly) over the site's power limits at 305fps! Oh well, I got myself a velocity reducer so I should be OK for next time.
Highlight of the day was defending our flag at the top of a stairwell. I found myself reduced to a pistol when my M-16 ran out of battery power (!), got the first two to storm up the stairs then caught a grenade launcher blast (more of a shotgun really) discharging some 150 pellets! Oh well, at least it was a spectacular way to go... Only downside was catching a pellet on joint of one of right-hand fingers but fortunately, stiffness is almsot gone. Just as well, given I have a fencing match tomorrow. And, of course, all this is as nothing compared with the bruises, bleeding and other injuries kabukivice and co enountered when paintballing that same day!
Oh, and I got yet more Nintendoflage, a set of US Army ACUPAT cammies from a guy who found they were too small for him. Guess I need a boonie hat to go with it before next skirmish... And we have already been talking about going to next game on 3 April. Heh. If I go to that, in the space of a month, I'll have matched my total number of outings for last year!
Jury duty
Man, this is a weird one. No case details but...
Reported for jury duty on Monday morning. BTW, great way to alarm family: my sister called while we were sitting waiting to be selected. "Where are you?" "Wood Green Crown Court" "WHAT?!?" ;-)
Got picked for a jury around 11.00, one hour off for lunch, finished at 4.00, came back the next day at 10.00, sat around until noon only to be called into court to be told we were being dismissed (usher would only say "fireworks") as a jury and then to call in today to check when to come in next.
So, I called in, woman I spoke to said I wasn't on her list, disappeared and then came back on to say I was being released from jury duty. For the sake of maintaining my confidence in the court system, I am trying hard to convince myself that I wasn't on her list because I had been released, not vice-versa.
Nonetheless, I am deeply irritated by all this. Three weeks I've been idle because there wasn't enough time between end of last contract and start of jury duty for another contract, only to spend 1.5 days on jury duty, of which only half a day was actually spent sitting in on a case. Goddammit!
Still, I've had a heads-up that there's a full-ish pipeline of work coming up in Germany. Time for another overeas tour of duty, I guess...
Cousin's visit
My cousin Sharon is in town on business from Malaysia so I met her this evening. It was pretty nice catching up on gossip from back in Malaysia. One weird thing. Apparently, at my sister's wedding last Summer, it seems a girl was flirting with me. Huh. Alas, she didn't know who this alleged female was! You'd think I'd have noticed... Anyway, we also caught a performance of Jailhouse Rock, a musical based on Elvis' music, recommended by one of her colleagues. It proved to be an awful lot of fun, highlights being Suspicious Minds and Burning Love. Definitely been way too long since I went to a theatrical performance.