Covid now kicking my arse a little less each day

That said, rolling up two heavy (sliding-door) blinds this morning wrecked my arms for about an hour afterwards.

Some notes:

} Worst sore throat I've ever had - kept me awake a whole night

} Equal worst congestion

} Second weakest/weariest I've felt since waking up from heart surgery

} The bodily aches have been pretty frickin' bad at various stages, too

} Unlike friends, I haven't had any full-on fevers and sweats (bit of underarm sweating on one night), AND

} Now stuck with an annoying cough. Hopefully it won't drag on for weeks!

If the gods are kind, it'll be at least another four years before I catch this plague a second time - and by then, there should be better treatments available.

Must chuck some sort of throat-numbing medicine in the back of the cupboard, along with the nasal sprays and decongestants.

Vitamin C

A Google search for "Vitamin C tablet" brings up countless varieties. Similarly, a YouTube request on the topic produces an endless list of dubious presenters from around the globe pushing either a specific brand or a pet theory.

When I was a boy, there was a single type of Vitamin C tablet available. They came in a brown bottle. Half of the little cyclindrical slices were orange and tasted kinda like orange, half were yellow and tasted sorta like lemon.

When you went to a friend's house, they'd have the exact same bottle. You'd always accept a Vitamin C when offered. They were officially good for us (our parents said so) and were close enough to lollies as to feel like a treat.

My point is...I don't have a point. Just make sure you're getting enough Vitamin C.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz_NxOF7RB4

Recent viewing

"Biggles" a rewatch.

* "Expendables 4" (2023) [Prime]: Familiar faces, dire dialogue, seams-visible CGI. BUT: I am legally obligated to view these :-)

* "Biggles - Adventures In Time" (1986) [YouTube]: This one's for you, BP and DP!

* "13 Bombs" (2023) [Netflix]: Powerful Indonesian terrorist-conspiracy actioner escalates enthrallingly.

* "Primeval" (2007) [Disney+]: "River Monsters" but make it horror/geopolitics. AND: Not everyone realised it was B-grade schlock.

* "The Takedown" (2022) [Netflix]: Better than a Hollywood buddy-cop film.

<<< Pick of the bunch is "13 Bombs". >>>

Also watchering: "Westworld" S3 [Fox-in-socks-tel], "The 8 Show" [Netsy].

Prep

Fingers crossed, RS and I will be engaging in some sealed-deck MTG soon. The lady-pirate tin is full of dice and counters. The "Rise Of The Eldrazi" box holds more sleeves.

Animals, animals, animals, animals, animals everywhere!

The dog next door is the cliched yappy, scrappy terrier who hates postmen and delivery peeps in general. He's usually behind a fence, but once he was in the front yard when the postie came along on his motorbike. The dog went straight for him, causing the poor bloke to fang it up the street. I wondered at the time whether that delayed our mail a day or two. In fact, this suburb is one of the city's worst for dog attacks on postmen, etc. There was a list of shame published a while back. Not a statistic of which I am proud. Then again, not my fault, either!

When I was new to magazine journalism, I made the mistake of whinging to a superior about an editorial tweak to one of my stories that had ruined the joke. Rather than offering sympathy, she said, "Don't worry about it, mate. Those pages are already lining a budgie cage somewhere." A rude lesson in not being precious about one's copy. Although I still am, depending on the situation. It's different as a freelancer - you can submit the piece, submit your invoice, then never look at the finished product if you're stressed about errors being introduced.

They don't sell airconditioners

The sulphur-crested cockatoos that fly over in their hundreds, moving back and forth between wetlands and nature reserve, discovered our mandarin tree. The clever buggers can remove a small piece of peel from a fruit and consume the entire contents through that hole. Unfortunately, they don't pluck them from the tree with anywhere near the same precision, carelessly stripping branches. They also reject the innards of some of the fruits, scattering segments across the ground. Oh, and thanks to their inscrutable pecking order, they don't all eat together. I had to clean up five "picnic sites" along our fenceline. There's not much we can do to dissuade them. Unlike Sand People, they aren't easily startled. These wild examples of the species are as big as chickens - and as game as roosters. You have to step fairly close, waving your arms, before they'll piss off. And, like Sand People, they invariably return in greater numbers. More to the point, we can't monitor the tree from dawn 'til dusk. Farewell, sweet mandarins. No fresh-squeezed juice for Addster this winter.

No. of podcasts on which I was mentioned yesterday: 1.

Liquorice twist

While I like liquorice, I've been scared off it by warnings from reputable medical bodies that regular consumption may be harmful for those with heart conditions. Won't go into the science here. You know who's not afraid of eating liquorice? The Dutch. They're famed as the world's biggest devourers of the "black gold". An oft-quoted figure is an average of four pounds per person per year. That's about six bags of Woolworths Liquorice Twists. Even when I was blissfully ignorant of the potential risk, I probably only got through the equivalent of a bag over the course of 12 months. Definitely less than two. I'd never cut it as a Dutchman.

Watching: "Shardlake" [Disney+].

Recent viewing

The seven-word summations keep on coming...

"Page Eight" and "Phantom Menace" were rewatches.

* "All The President's Men" (1976) [Netflix]: Political expose deserved classic for many reasons.

* "City Hunter" (2024) [Netflix]: Sexist, silly, melee-tastic, melodramatic, true to source.

* "Justice League - Warworld" (2023) [Netflix]: Wild West/barbarian-fantasy/alien-conquest anthology. BUT: Surprisingly violent, questionable characterisation, poorly linked, BORING.

* "Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part 1" (2023) [Paramount+]: MacGuffin, threats, fights, bluffs, pursuits, eye candy. AND: Dunno if I'll bother with second half. 

* "Nefarious" (2023) [Prime Video]: Psychological horror. Award-worthy acting. Fumbled ending.

* "Page Eight" (2011) [Netflix]: Slowburn telemovie puts blockbuster espionage to shame.

* "Secrets Of The Neanderthals" (2024) [Netflix]: Evocatively framed archaeological debunking, spelunking, new thunking.

* "Star Wars - The Phantom Menace" (1999) [Disney+]: Made peace with all ultragarbage except Binks.

<<< Pick of the bunch is "All The Prez's Dudes". >>>

Continuing the theme

Have heard a few folks speaking of late about what sort of computer equipment they had at school. Here's my annotated list.

Infants & Primary: None. Nor was their absence ever questioned. In my primitive understanding, computers were banks of blinking lights only found in spacestations/spaceships. (Slight exaggeration.)

Junior high: A lone Apple IIe materialised in the library foyer midway. This at a private college I had to ride a packed bus for an hour-plus to attend. Meanwhile, my bestie travelled 10 minutes to a public school with a *network* of MicroBees. When he talked about fun things like hacking into workspaces, it was almost more than I could bear.

Senior high: A room full of XT PCs. Pretty sure they were XT and not AT, although I could be wrong (was there a mix?). In the 1-unit course, we farted about with a word processor, spreadsheet and database. In the 2-unit course, they actually learnt some Pascal. A kid with an IBM compatible at home who snuck in crappy CGA games was a hero.

University: The Internet. Nuff said.

The psi-man

During my failed attempt at a Computer Science degree, I was for a while lectured by a fellow with a single name. He complained to us about how hard it was to get the bank to accept his lack of surname (they insisted on putting a series of Xs). While obviously brilliant at his subject, he'd digress onto topics such as Irish singer Sinead O'Connor or the Marvel comic "Groo The Wanderer". He never wore shoes. Once, when he was apparently sucking on a sweet, a wag called out, "I hope you've got enough of those for everyone!" The eccentric dude removed a glistening black object from his mouth and replied, "It's a rock. Do you want one?" Could it possibly have been true? When not delivering no-fools-suffered explanations or closing assignment boxes the *second* the due time arrived (traits that made him hated but also grudgingly respected), he reviewed SF/F novels for the local newspaper. I was jealous of this. Eventually, I'd review for them myself, though I was generally only given the dross no-one else wanted. Mates who made it past first year told me the single-named fellow grew easier to deal with later in the degree - or maybe you just got used to him.

As I dither I keep a weather eye

We've had days and nights of rain. It's brought to mind a (Year 5-6) classmate and near-ish neighbour whose mother didn't like him or his sister catching the bus in downpours. Maybe it was the dodgy roads 'round our way. Perhaps she thought he'd be drenched by the time he got into the classroom, and spend the day in wet clothes. Whatever the reason, she would drive us all to school on those heavy-rain days. Said chum's mum had a Toyota T-18, which seemed awfully sporty to me then. In my eyes, its illuminated dashboard was like that of an X-Wing Fighter or Colonial Viper (though a Google image search doesn't support that aspect of the memory). My classmate's mother would always be playing disco music on the car stereo. Since I was raised on country, plus a smattering of The Beatles, that only added to the exotic nature of the lifts. 

My fave Chess content creators

Since I missed posting yesterday, a quick list of champion Chess chicks currently popularising the game and helping make it more fun for everyone.

1. Anna Cramling (Spanish-Swedish Woman FIDE Master).

2-3. Alexandra & Andrea Botez (Canadian; Alex is a Woman FIDE Master).

4. Dina Belenkaya (Russian-Israeli Woman Grandmaster).

5. Fiona Steil-Antoni (Luxembourgish Woman International Master).

Easiest way to keep up with the first four is on YouTube, where they regularly share game footage. "Fionchetta" does commentating/interviewing now, so she's better followed on Twitter, where she posts about tourneys and the odd Chess news.

Why am I capitalising Chess? Because, despite not being a proper noun, it's important, damn it! :-)

Heart Strings XI

Six pics is enough to do another lady-archer compilation, yeah? I don't go looking for them, just save 'em as I encounter 'em. Babes with bows are cool.

From top to bottom:
- Cosplayer Nora as an original creation(?), from Twitter

- Gillian Alexy as Kate Matthews in 2022 flick "Avarice"

- MTG streamer Nessa as Vivien Reid, from Instagram

- Mystery gal in makeup advert snapped by RS in Japan

- Singer Rina Sawayama as Akira in "Jon Wick 4", AND

- Tao Okamoto as Hanaryo in S2 of "Westworld".

NPC

As undergrads, friends and I got addicted to MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) - online, text-based, combat-focused RPGs which we played via dumb terminals around the campus. We weren't the only ones. There was a chap who had the sickness even worse than we did. If there was no terminal free, he'd sit and watch someone else play. MG would tease him about it...but also take pity and let him shoulder-surf. What I didn't realise at the time was that, while the rest of us were naughtily skipping classes to grind our way up to Wizard rank, he was dealing with unrelated real-world issues and, I was later told, sleeping in his car.

One day, I walked into my preferred computer room and I could feel a palpable tension in the air. MG explained that the chap's father had suddenly come and collected him, pulling him out of imaginary dungeon, busy room and university itself. We never saw him again. Hopefully everything turned out for the best.