Having survived a couple of primary school carol services on Friday, I made my way in the evening to my good friend Matt's for a good natter, a couple of chuckle-some Horror films, including the disturbing sight of Peter Sallis being staked through the heart- "It's the wrong garlic Grommit!".
One of the added bonuses of seeing Matt, besides him being great company, is the luxury of being able to smoke indoors, which is a guilty pleasure I don;t get too often these days.

On the Saturday we had a couple of games of Necromunda, before I had to return to a noisy sprog-filled house. Watched the last of the History of Christianity series in the evening with mrs o, which has been a very interesting and well made documentary, with some stuff I'd not come across in my studies. For the rest of the evening I became a snooker widower, and it looks like more of the same tonight.

A much better turn-out at church today, which makes me suspect last week's low numbers had as much to do with the appalling weather as it the did the fact that many are traveling back to Nigeria to see family over Christmas.

Be amazed as 'Chip The Black Boy' (yes, that's his name according to the captions) proclaims; "My ex-wife left me for another man that has her on crack cocaine and it really hurts".

Be astounded as Chip suddenly goes strangely limp IN CLOSE UP as a panda appears to sing God's praises, during which the visiting pastor's Fixed Evangelical Grin is frozen in place.

Be shocked as the Panda dies live on air, but the show goes on!

Picked this up from technophobe1975:

Eeeps- fitting these entries in is proving challenging, but it's that time of year.
I love Advent- the music, the liturgy, the being able to complain at everyone celebrating Christmas already.
We had our Advent carols service on Sunday, which is held jointly with our local Catholic Church. It's got to be my favourite act of worship of the year and never ceases to move me.

Had a great lunch out today at the local with a former colleague, catching up with gossip.
Sadly, tomorrow I have a big funeral for the baby of one of the regulars, and I'll be back at the pub in the evening for the wake.
That place has as many joys and sorrows as the church community, but it's a privilege to share in the lives of others.

After last week's madness, the next few days don't look so bad on paper.

Had rather a lot to drink on Thursday night and got talked into taking part in the pub quiz with a fellow clergyman I'd been meeting with. As usual I came last, since my general knowledge is weaker than a dead flea.

Friday night I met up with Mr Boss in town for a few more drinks and a good chat. I also popped into Games Workshop and picked up the Warriors of Chaos rulebook, as I've decided to collect a new army next year. I've got a bit bored with Dwarfs since their trouncing at the tournament, and whilst I've resurrected (ho ho) my Undead army for the time being, I'm in the mood for something new.

My sister was staying for the weekend, which meant I got a little more chill-out time away from the kids than normal. Sunday we all went to the pub for a meal, a most delicious Steak and Guinness pie, washed down with a pint of Guinness, naturally.

New column up on the comics I'm enjopying at the moment: http://www.geekplanetonline.com/

Sorry about the lack of posting- things are manic.
I've just picked up my 2nd baby funeral of the month, both of whom I've known the families of.
Also, the weddings are pouring in (apparently Christmas is the season of choice for Nigerians planning weddings, how helpful).

Outside of work, I watched the Waters Of Mars on Sunday and mostly enjoyed it, certainly far more than the last special. It will be some years before the kids get to see it, not because of the scares but because of the ending.
3 monkeys.

Can't criticise RTD for introducing suicide into Who, since I watched Image Of The Fendahl Monday night, a Tom Baker story in which the same thing happens to one of the main characters towards the end. Marking the end of the gothic horror period in the series, Fendahl is mostly good fun, with some great Tom Baker lines. Only the monster design lets it down (think giant penises with flaps, now that's put you off your tea hasn't it?).
4 monkeys.

Finally got round to watching An American Werewolf In London last night.
Not too sure why folk make such a fuss of it.
Yes, the effects are brilliant, and there are some funny scenes, but there's really not a lot of story to it.
( Plot summary )
The problem may be that I'm just not a big fan of horror films, I guess.
2 1/5 monkeys.

Latest Blessed Are The Geek is up, and it's a report on my trip to the Warhammer tournament last month: clicky

Finished Mark Radcliffe's Showbusiness: The Diary Of A Rock 'N' Roll Nobody yesterday. It relates his days as a band member of various disastrous groups and was a great laugh. He has a wonderful writing style, and paints vivid pictures of gigs that went badly wrong and the amusing characters that made up his fellow band members. It includes his Shirehorses days (must dig out that album again), and makes mention of the Mahones at the end.

5 monkeys.

Bit of a weird weekend.
Saturday involved Diocesan Synod for the day. Nothing too exciting happened (what a surprise!), and matters were dominated by the financial difficulties the diocese is facing. All very cheery.
In the evening mrs O was out, and I managed to spend hours on end playing Lego Star Wars on the PS2 whilst listening to Collins & Herring filling in for Adam & Joe on the iPlayer, which was a great laugh.

Sunday went okay, with the annual worry of whether I'd manage to get the minutes silence at the right moment (1 minute early this year, but no complaints). Managed to have a bugler this year, thanks to the iPhone (iBugler?).
In the afternoon I watched Star Wars with the kids, and sprog #1 managed to sit and pay attention for quite a bit of it this time. Was reminded of the times ITV showed the film when I was a kid, and the excitement of it all.
Spent a very entertaining evening drinking real ale and watching Attack Of The Cybermen with commentary (featuring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant). More memories brought back of when I saw it on the original broadcast.
So quite a bit of nostalgia and remembrance for one day.

The week has flown by in a daze, but considering how grey and miserable a lot of it has been, that is no bad thing.

Wednesday afternoon I set aside some time to load up Windows 7.
6 hours later, and only with the help of a good friend who knows his IT, 7 finally loaded.
Since then it's been okay, with none of the driver problems I had with Vista.
Doesn't look much different, and it's been a pain to have to reload all my software and files (thankfully I did a backup beforehand).

Yesterday was mrs o's birthday and I took her out for lunch at the local. In the evening we took a taxi to an excellent pub in Bexleyheath called the Robin Hood and Little John, winner of CAMRA awards for its amazing selection of real ales. I'm a big fan of Adnams, and it was great to have it on tap.

Recently finished reading The Flight Of The Eisenstein, the next 40K Horus Heresy novel I'd got up to. It was a fun enough read, though the characters of the Marines are getting a bit samey- there's always one honorable chap who rejects the growing corruption in his chapter, and one ebil marine who causes problems for him.
3 monkeys

I should be meeting a couple now about a wedding, but they've failed to turn up, what a surprise. Have instituted a stricter wedding preparation regime which I hope will wheedle out the time wasters, but since this couple haven't even started stage 1, it looks like it may be a long process for them.

Sorry for the lack of posts this past week- half term was spent mostly away from home, with m-i-law in Aylesbury, then friends in Birmingham. Friday saw an anti-stag do in Southwest London, followed by a busy weekend of work and I'm just catching up now.

Last night went to see Richard Herring live which was a great laugh, and my first experience of live stand-up. Sort of. It was more like a live recording of a radio play: click here for an explanation

The commentary for Delta and the Bannermen was an enjoyable affair with Sylvester McCoy providing the laughs and the director and the script editor providing interesting 'making-of' facts.
The other extras are a bit on the scimpy side in comparison with other releases, though they tend to repeat what's said on the commentary anyway, and there's a great out-takes reel featuring Noel tidy beard Edmonds, back in the day when such things were his bread and butter.
4 monkeys.

Having enjoyed Don Henderson's performance, we also decided to watch the Red Dwarf edpisode which featured him, Beyond A Joke. Sadly, it's a 7th season story, post Rimmer leaving, so somewhat lacking in laughs and originality, but Don makes a good Simulant and it's been ages since I've watched any Dwarf.
2 monkeys.

Spent a great day off yesterday playing Necromunda with k_t_r, and dragged mrs o in for a game of Space Crusade in the evening too.

We watched Hammer's 'The Mummy' which was from the studio's classy early period and features a great performance from Christopher Lee's eyes. 4 monkeys.

Also a programme on BBC4 called 'The Red Lion' about pubs with that name. It was both cheering- showing how pubs can make a positive difference to their neigbourhoods, and depressing- since they are currently being shut down at a rate of 4 a day!

Exhausted after a long but fun weekend at the Warhammer Tournament. I'm going to be writing a column about it soon, but here's a taster:

Had to have this image for Who posts:

I haven't wished a week away so badly in ages. Getting very excited about the tournament. 1 mass, 1 wedding and a funeral visit to go.

(Ruth being my sister- you've got to love the way Colin has signed over Nicola!)

Yesterday we discovered sprog #2's favourite pop artist is 'Jelly Bollies', (David Bowie)- she has great taste.
We also watched a laugably poor episode of Blake's 7 in the evening- 'Voice From The Past', complete with Travis in a disguise that includes a single googly eye.

Exhibit #2 (also from Longleat, I think):