The little Inn by the wayside

[eMTe]

I have boring life.

[Tormuse]

I have boring life.

The Chinese Curse.

[jayenkai]

Yesterday, we had our first big Xmas family visit.
My cousin, his wife, and three daughters, all came for a visit. This is the first time since March that I've dealt with a large group of people.
I think I coped pretty well, under the circumstances, and managed to remain chirpy throughout their visit.

.. Today's another thing altogether. I'm completely drained, have little or no energy, and a walloping headache of stupid proportions!! Dangit!!
A day of rest is in order, methinks.
Makes me glad my mum had flu, or I'd've had to have dealt with this all week!!

[eMTe]

A fairy tale with trains!

Something was banging my head from yesterday when I read this and now I know what it was. Ulrich Schnauss's music would do as a great soundtrack for the movie titled "Fairy Tale with Trains".

[Scythe]

Ulrich Schnauss

Sounds like a porn star.

[eMTe]

Yup, he doesn't have very fairytalish name, but he makes beautiful music.

Now, it's time for Big Red Writing.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Blind fate decided that I am the host of the party for friends this year, so I have a lot to do since morning. So I wake up very early to buy all necessary goods, return from work and rush to prepare everything, and after an hour I find that I have too much bread (thus too many sandwiches), too much salads of various sorts, too many candies and pops and I'll be consuming this whole smorgasbord for next two days, but a second later gf reminds me that I forgot to buy small jar of mayonnaise and all shops are long closed.

Not only one of salads will contain a little bit less mayonnaise than scheduled, but the party is planned as no-alcohol one, at least from my side. I doubt that people will come with empty hands though, because I'm aware who's coming. At least I won't be the one to blame if my flat will be raided by police after neighbours' reports of loud noises, fire and people falling from windows.

[jayenkai]

You know you've completely run out of ideas for game titles, when you call a shoot-em-up Happy New Year, because you can't even think of a rubbish pun!! Either that or I'm drunk.. It may be that. I have drunk a couple of glasses of Baileys, and I'm not much of a drinker!!
Hmm...
Anyhoo, Happy New Year, everyone!
Lets hope it's a better one. .. Can't really get much worse :/

[Pater Alf]

Happy new year!!!

Hope the beginning of 2013 will be better for everyone than the end of 2012 was for me. The father of one of my oldest childhood friends died this morning. I really loved him, so I wasn't in the mood to really celebrate today. Had to think about him a lot today and so I say:

Cheers to all the beloved people that are gone in 2012 (I'm thinking of Heinz, Nils and Walter) and happy new year to everybodywho survived!

I hope you all have a wonderful year 2013!

[jayenkai]

[Scythe]

End of the world for some peeps.

Also, Baileys. Yum.

[Chroelle]

Holy crap Raillo!

Well I read stuff between the lines when reading you over the last decade or so, but never this...

Ok...

Now it seems aweful to change the subject but I am at work, and only have very little time. Raillo, do you know of any good place to get some inexpensive locomotives online that I can use at my work place. I found an old box of Märklin but with no locomotive, and I want to try and set this up for the kids to be creative with. Do you know of any other brand that might be cheaper and is compatible with Märklin? I wanted to simply try it out and see if it catches on with the kids, so I dont have the funding to go all-in on Märklin.
Hope you can help!

Oh and I love it when work drives me in here - that kind of solves my problem with work keeping me out of of here in the first place.

[Railwaymodeler]

Cheaper, yes. Compatible with Marklin, no.

Marklin uses three rail track (Center rail is actually a small metal stub in each cross tie), and the locomotives run on Alternating Current. 2 rail Direct current is norm for HO scale.

Here's the next problem: If you buy a 2 rail DC locomotive and track, yes, that would be cheaper than a Marklin locomotive but you then cannot use the cars. Marklin wheels and axles are all metal, no insulation, so on a 2 rail system where each rail carries a different polarity, they short circuit the system. So then you have to replace the wheelsets. Trix does make replacements for most Marklin cars to convert them to DC.

Perhaps eBay? Or check hobby stores. Here in the USA, many hobby stores will sell older items on consignment for the owners looking to sell them. If you don't mind some minor maintenance, such as cleaning wheel treads or oiling and lubing motors and gears, this may be the best way to go.

[Tormuse]

Happy New Year, everyone!

@Pater Alf, I'm sorry for your loss. I suppose this time can also be a reminder to cherish those loved ones we still have.

And I also echo Scythe's sentiment of Bailey's, yum!

[jayenkai]

You know those days when you've had a migraine all day, then your Uncle rings to say he's bringing the whole smegging family 'round for the night, and you know your head isn't going to cope with it, but say "sure!" because you're too damn polite to say otherwise.
.. this is one of them days...

yeay, family \o/
:/

Today, I made a list of all the games I've made during 2012.
I'm used to my end-of-year collection being a whole 52-or-more collection, so to have just 13 is a little bit of a let down.
Still, that's more than one for every month, so I at least managed that!
sucks

2013 will be better!
.. well, it won't at my current rate. I seem to be struggling to get a move on with the new Framework. I might have to resort to doing another PlayMyCode browser game, instead. :\
Bah, humbug!!

[Tormuse]

Considering what you've been through in the past year, I'm impressed you got *any* games out! I imagine it's disappointing when compared to your usual standard, but you might need to reset your expectations.

As for the relatives coming over, I think people overuse the excuse of "I was just being polite" for explaining why they did something they didn't want to do. It's perfectly possible to be assertive and state what you want in a way that is polite. In fact, arguably, your uncle is the one being impolite, since he's imposing on your hospitality! My mother always taught me that it's impolite to invite yourself over to someone else's house. (Especially for an overnight stay!) It's none of my business, but I think it would have been very reasonable (and polite) for you to have said something like you're not ready to have guests right now, but maybe another time.

Not that I'm trying to start an argument or anything; just my thoughts.

[eMTe]

just my thoughts

This is how usually arguments start.

[Scythe]

just my thoughts

This is how usually arguments start.

No thery don't!

[Pager]

It's none of my business, but I think it would have been very reasonable (and polite) for you to have said something like you're not ready to have guests right now, but maybe another time.

I agree. My best man used that excuse all the time after his cancer went into remission. Although he stopped getting away with that when everyone found out he went to a strip club.

[jayenkai]

My uncle and his family have finally left.
It's 00:30.
I'm usually in bed by about 17:30, so am quite knackered!!

*blink*

We only get to see them at Xmas. They're a lovely family, and they all have iPhings, so I went into Salesman Jay mode, and sold a few of my, and some of my fellow indies, games

Yep, I might be a fantastic freeware fanatic, but I can flog my warez to my own family!!

I'm not entirely evil, though, as I grabbed some AppStore promo codes for SpikeDislike, and handed them out.
I'm not sure who here has an iOS device, and whether these will ever get used, but looky!! Here's the last two promo codes for SpikeDislike! Grab 'em while they're hot!
XKHPFFP94NKT
WHMWNAPKF4L3
...and that's the lot. Unless I ever bother to update it, which I probably won't, 'cos the iOS6 update knackered my ability to do that, without a huge rewrite of the sprite stuff!! Bugger!!!

[Tormuse]

(It's quiet here lately, eh?)

Well, just to fill in the silence, it was 12 degrees Celsius here in Toronto today, surprisingly warm for January! As someone here said, when did I move to Florida?