NOWSA 2010

I've decided to go to the NOWSA 2010 conference at University of Newcastle. The last time I went to one was in 1998 down near Penrith. Times have changed since then, and the conference is openly trans-woman friendly. Also, it's a bit after the Queer Collaborations conference which is perfect timing.

Is anyone out there?

Have the strangest feeling that no one else is reading my live journal account any more. Should I stop posting and just swap over to Facebook?

Test Drive Unlimited

I've been indulging myself in buying video games that I've wanted to for a while. One of these is TEST DRIVE UNLIMITED.

I think the thing that got to me about this game is that it's 8 GB installation is a recreation of driving the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu - all of it! The game must be a few years old by now as a sequel, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is being heavily promoted on the official web site. 
You catch a plane to the island, buy a home and a car, and go out and race, sometimes for $$$. But you can't just driveany old way anywhere. The police with go after you if you cause too many accidents and don't escape in time (I chalked up $9000 of fines in the first 4 hours of play) and driving over cliffs and into water isn't recommended. There's a lot involved in this and the controls though simple took me a while to master (and I still drive like I just got in a car for the first time). 

But, I love the simulation! It really felt like driving on a real road. I puttered around in the back roads for a while and lost exactly where my home was (should have bookmarked it) before I started a new game. Love driving on those freeways. Apparently you can go online and interact with thousands of players but I'm nowhere near that yet in skill, and there is still much for me to explore (and I also need a gamespy account).

Golly - I wonder if therte are mods for other areas? I'd love to hoon about in the Hunter Valley!  

Microsoft Flight Simulator X

As a last gasp of indulgence, I bought a marked down copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator X (with expansion pack).

   

Haven't played this since, well Version 1! Now that was really basic, as I played it on a TRS-80 clone (it was subLogic back then). Golly - those were the days (early 80s, I had my System-80 in '79)! Always wanted to get back to this some day, and decided it was now. I tried an open source flight simulator but um, well I always wanted the MS one. There were also a couple of Combat versions in the discount bin, but I've never been keen on dogfight - I just want to fly my plane. Don't know if it will run smoothly on either of my PCs, and I may wait until I add a TB drive to one of them before installing it.

Now one day I also hope to find a decent yacht racing simulator (loved the idea ever since playing the board game Regatta,  , a Motor Bike Racing simulator (I already have some GTR versions for car racing) and a skating simulator (I skated poorly in Real life, but always wanted to stunt skate on roller blades or boards).

Some Puppy Pics

They're about 7 weeks old now:

General melee

Some affection please

Hey, I want some of that!

The Study

Kevin and Michelle have gone away for the w/e and I've finally made progress sorting out my study.

Half the problem's been throwing out old clothing and material I was keeping "just in case" I'd do a fibre art project. Once I decided to get rid of the stuff anyway it opened up a lot of room that I otherwise couldn't use. Also, earlier this week I scored a bookcase on community clean-up and that's replacing a small cabinet (which is going in my bedroom) and stuff that was in wardrobe can now go in it, and records I moved out into the shed because that part of the wardrobe was infested with ants, can now be moved back in.

Gasp.

It has been good to toss old stuff out of the shed as well. Kevin helped me do this. A second opinion is always handy because I tend to be "well maybe sometime in the future that might be useful" but in reality what happens is that the stuff just accumulates. And the trouble with that is that it prevents the replacing of it with new stuff.

I also reworked the wiring of the cables behind where the PC was moved, mostly so that the speakers don't constantly fall to the floor when I move anything. This involved attaching the cordless phone to the inner window (this room was once a veranda), and putting another screw in the sill so that the power board doesn't drop at the slightest touch.

Took a while, bus seems worth it. I should be ready for the COMIKAZI tomorrow.