My 12 year old son and his friend spent much of last weekend mixing and matching all his lego minifigs to make his own Dr Who Lego.

Given that there was nothing manufactured specifically for what they were trying to make, I think they did a great job.

I’ve never been that interested in branded Lego, but if they ever did a merchandising deal with the Beeb over this, they would have a large amount of my money. And plenty of my childrens’ too.

Please excuse the poor photography. I rushed a bit, perhaps I can upload some new versions later.

This one has been sitting in my drafts pile for a while, so you’ll have to forgive its lateness.

As you may be aware, my Dad died in September last year.

When I got back to Esperance after the funeral and went back to work I found an envelope in my pigeon hole. I opened the envelope and in it was a $50 note. Most puzzling.

I asked B1 (boss #1, not to be confused with B1 of “are you thinking what I’m thinking B1?” fame?) what it was about.

On the same Sunday afternoon that I had rung to say that Dad had died and that I wouldn’t be coming to work the next day, a woman had come in wanting to pass on some money to me.

It turns out that some time previously, Dad had loaned this lady some money for a taxi fare after a conference or something similar. Rather than work out some complicated way of getting the money back he simply told her to come into the pharmacy when she was next in Esperance and pass the money on to me. Along with the message that I was to buy a meal of fish and chips for the family.

Of course, when B1 explained why I was not around to give the money to, she was as shocked as the rest of us had been.

Two weeks on, we did just as Dad had asked. Bought a big serve of fish and chips. Bought a jar of pickled onions to go with it too… Dad always loved his pickled onions with fish and chips.

So thanks Dad for a final serve of fish and chips. It seems appropriate somehow that even now that you have gone, you are still spoiling us.

I did mention this in my update post, but I thought the news deserved its own post.

I won NaNoWriMo! Yes, after two less-than-stellar efforts (perhaps effort isn’t the right word), I have managed to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

Go me!

I reached the 50,000 word goal on Monday night, with plenty of time to spare and just in time for the official validation engine to start up and have my victory officially recognised. I thought I still had about 10,000 words left of the story to go, but as I was writing last night I realised I was much closer than I thought. So now, not only have I reached the artificial (though still somewhat challenging) target of 50K, I also have a complete first draft of “Conspiracy of Resonance”.

If anyone is interested in having a read and doesn’t mind a story with a certain amount of blood in it, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me in the usual ways and request a copy. Be prepared to wield your red pen a lot in the process.

I’ll post a bit later about how I think I managed to get through this year where I didn’t in ’06 and ’07, but for now I just want to share a post I put up in our regional forum:

What are you looking forward to?

Don’t get me wrong. I have loved (and am still loving) every minute of this sleep-deprived month, but there are a few things that I am looking forward to doing come December. How about you?

• Going to bed later on the same day that I woke up rather than early the next morning. (As Waldo Butters once said to Harry Dresden: “Sleep is God. Go worship.”)
• Reading a book. Specifically, I received in the mail a week or two ago the entire Hal Spacejock series by Simon Haynes (wrimo HalSpacejock). I’ve also got the latest Genghis Khan book by Conn Iggulen and The Children of Hurin by (sort of) Tolkien burning holes in my bookshelf.
• Finishing Neverwinter Nights 2 (once I have recovered from this lot of sleep deprivation and can afford another round.
• Detoxing from caffeine overload. Fruit juice and herbal tea, here I come!
• Waiting to order and receive my Nano 2008 Winner’s T-shirt which have been rumoured about!

While I will no doubt be daydreaming about what Nano 2009 will bring, I’m not certain I’m convinced that I will be reading and editing this year’s effort before the end of the month (Jaye’s prediction). I might send it off, warts and all, to a few interested readers who will no doubt love it madly and have nothing bad to say about it.

This is one little girl determined to get where she want to go! Apologies for the phone-camera quality, but you get the idea!

For more of Jason’s band Omaha Anxiety (who played support to [Mental as Anything][3] on the weekend, w00t!), check out his [youtube page][1]. This is the last I notice to this effect I will put on this site, as [Jason now has one of his own][2]. Go there and nag him to get it up and running.

[1]: http://au.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=jboysixphD
[2]: http://jason.powerlot.net
[3]: http://www.mentalasanything.com.au/

I’m not sure what to write here. In fact I’m not even sure I want to be writing anything.

My Dad died on Sunay. He had turned 60 earlier in the year. He was semi-retired and had so much more planned for the rest of his life. Besides me, he left behind my mum and two brothers, 13 grandchildren and 1 great-grandson.

None of us can believe it. I don’t know what to think.

After a five month wait, family and friends will be pleased to know that I have [finally][6] [added][1] [some][2] [more][3] [photos][5] to [my flickr account][7], including some of the [school trip to Canberra][4]. Enjoy.

[1]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wynter/sets/72157606755468946/
[2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wynter/sets/72157606759071093/
[3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wynter/sets/72157606755469048/
[4]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wynter/sets/72157606759071195/
[5]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wynter/sets/72157606759071273/
[6]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wynter/sets/72157606755469152/
[7]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wynter

The Australian Minister for Aging released figures last week showing that [Marriage Increases Life Expectancy][1]. Good news. Now I just need to exercise more and [get my HDLs up][2].

[1]: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/mr-yr08-je-je135.htm?OpenDocument
[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-density_lipoprotein

We have never much gone in for the local show. Costs too much to get in, costs too much to do anything once you do get in. Granted, some of the displays are interesting, and it doesn’t hurt to show some interest in things agricultural when you live in an agricultural town like Esperance.

For a couple of years I entered my ginger beer in the cooking competitions (which reminds me, I have been meaning to post my recipe) and some of the boys have done craft or cooking and entered that in the kids’ competition.

We were meaning to do it again this year (last year when we didn’t go I told them that we would do it every other year) but it really just seemed like too much effort. Dragging six children around the show (not to mention paying for them all to get in) just to see if anyone got a ribbon just didn’t strike me as a reasonable use of time or effort.

At breakfast in the week before the show when I was trying to work out how I could get out of going, I made what I thought was a throw-away remark: “Why don’t we just have our own show”. To my surprise (and dismay) the boys thought this was a great idea. They thought it was such a great idea that when some friends were over that day (while I was at work thankyou very much) they shared my great idea and invited them over for it!

So Saturday comes and we have our show. Bought a whole pile of meat for the barbie, a bunch of lollies, Pat made some cakes and filled the fridge with the infamous ginger beer. Above mentioned friends came over, I cooked food, kids played (only one trampoline injury), we ate and drank and then out came the colourings-in, the origami, the lego creations and everyone got a certificate.

A great time was had by all (somewhat to my surprise!) and I am sure this will turn out to be an annual event. It has been said to me in the past that children will always have fond memories of family traditions and I am sure this is going to be one.

BTW, click on the photo of the fool to the right to see some photos of the action.