Clippy's log - page 13

25/7 8pm. Jodi's costume, which is made of cardboard and string (ehee!), is done. I am gobsmacked by the way Midga is handling the Sharpies and the needle and thread. He is more artistic/crafty than Jodi! This just doesn't happen. Just as he's putting the finishing touches on (cotton wool clouds) Rosuav comes in.

8:30pm. Jodi's cell phone (that's USA-ian for mobile) rings - it's Loigan wondering where we are, they're all at dinner. At the Japanese place again. We jump in the car and head there, for the same show and dinner. Arriving last we're almost alone on a table.

10:30pm. Back to the hotel and prepare for costume parade! There's some well prepared ones, and all of them raise a laugh and applause. Jodi, Midga and Rosuav all win prizes - Jodi for "most likely to crash a different MUD client" (which has a weird back story), Midga for "Most geeky" and Rosuav for "Most self-serving". Prizes. Nice.

11:30pm. Everyone's just sitting around drinking and chatting.

3am. The party has been reduced to just our family so we retire to our room and pretend we're sensible people going to bed. It starts with a chance comment from Jodi "Chris if you sad face me I'll PK you" - PK in this case meaning Pillow Kill. >THWACK<. Ten minutes of pillow fight later we've segued very neatly into theology. This cycle repeats itself a few times.

6:30am. Jodi falls asleep in the middle of a sentence.

26/7 10:30am. Four hours of sleep, that's your lot. Up you get, time for brunch at the book shop. Yes, the cafe at the bookshop. It has wifi. Jodi buys a book to read on the way home.

4:30pm. Random chatting. Rosuav probably understands most of it but Midga and I don't. Nerdery isn't a language.

8pm. Dinner, at an Italian restaurant that gives huge servings.

1:30am. More random chatting. Lots of people have gone, and Achtius entertains us in our room by grilling the boys on the subject of beards. This quite naturally leads to Australian climate, politics, aircraft carriers, nuclear fission and other related matters.

27/7 8:30am. We really have to go if we want to get home at 2pm to see the kids. Wake, pack up, check out. Drive. Jodi's book is called "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" - the full text of the classic girly novel with a few words and paragraphs changed to make it a zombie book. It's done well and Midga has to pause at intervals in his old practice of reading aloud in the car to laugh uncontrollably.

2pm. We get back to Jodi's parents' place to cries of acclamation. We meet William and Jodi's dad for the first time.

3pm. Chat over, time to go home. Jodi settles on the computer to touch base with a bunch of people.

3:05pm. Jodi's phone rings - major family emergency and she has to drive two hours to Charlotte. She tells the boys to grab all their stuff because they might have to pick up the train there.

5:30pm. After a delay due to roadworks we get there and Midga is left in charge of the kids. Not exactly a new responsibility for him, but certainly an expression of trust.