I was recently approached for permission to read one of my stories in a podcast. Naturally, I said yes.

The story is one I wrote for  draekosilver, Taking a Snapshot almost ten years ago.

Take a listen to Part 1 here! --> Taking a Snapshot, Part 1

I'll post a link for Part 2 when it's available.

I logged into Steam this morning to find someone in Malmö, Sweden had requested to be added to my friends. I added, then not long after, this person messaged me. I had absolutely no idea who this person was, and in my awkward attempt to figure out their identity, I managed to offend them enough that I was unfriended a couple minutes later. The only information I was given was 'emperor of the chakitties'. I know only two Swedes, one of whom hasn't been on Steam in a very long time, and it wasn't the other one either.

The profile icon was a black background, with a very creepy set of eyes and teeth in stark white.

If whoever it was reads this, I'm honestly very sorry for coming off as being nasty. 'Nasty' is not in my nature, but when someone I literally don't know (or don't remember) starts talking to me from out of the blue, I'm obviously going to want to know to whom I'm talking. I don't know any Swedish chakats -- not that I can recall, anyway -- and I'm somewhat agonising over offending a seemingly random person. There have been many times people have recognised me in person, but I haven't had the faintest idea who they were because it had been so long.

And if anyone has an idea as to this person is, let me know. I want to try to make amends.

Social awkwardness sucks.

So, I bought a Danish music album I'd been wanting since I found it on YouTube. However, as is usually the case with foreign-language music, I just cannot locate written lyrics for them. I'm wondering if any of my watchers either has really good Google-fu, or knows someone (including themselves) who is fluent in Danish and can transcribe the lyrics from listening.

The album in question is "Det Sku' Du Aldrig Ha' Sagt". Songs 3 and 20 I know already, as they're Eurovision lyrics.

I'm fine. I live in the west central part of the North Island, and sustained no damage. There was a lot of rocking, and the house creaked and groaned a lot, but the only casualty was some Doctor Who figurines falling off their shelf.

Can't say the same for those living in the affected areas. Lots of damage, and the heavy rain/winds are hampering efforts too.

For the last few days (with all the site issues going on), I've had a phantom comment notification. I have '1C' showing, but no comments. I can't get rid of it. Does anyone know how to fix this? It's irritating to see a notification I can't read.

Ukraine! The new voting structure, splitting it into jury vote and televote, made the voting even more exciting. I was quite on the edge of my seat. Australia led the field at the end of the jury voting, but was pipped to the post by the televotes. Still, second place for the second attempt, after a respectable fifth place on their debut last year, is very good.

Russia and Ukraine, understandably, didn't give each other any points at all. Russia threw a lot of money at their act, and though it was hot favourite to win, it was bumped into third place. There will be questions asked in the Kremlin, I'll bet -- Russia takes the ESC very seriously. Given that countries that don't like each other tend to not take part when it's held in enemy territory, I wonder if Russia will show up in 2017. If they didn't, it could be considered losing face, and I'm sure they wouldn't want that.

Anyway, now I'm off (rather late) to work.

1st - Ukraine
2nd - Australia
3rd - Russia

February 6 is Waitangi Day here in New Zealand, and almost every year there are protests at Waitangi (where the Treaty was signed). This year was a little different, when Steven Joyce, our Minister for Economic Development, had a dildo thrown at his face by a protester. He later tweeted, 'Someone send the gif over to John Oliver so we can get it over with..'

You asked for it, Steven.

Not exactly safe for work YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvhPtHMrUwg

The voice of the Eurovision Song Contest (for UK viewers) has died, after a short battle with cancer, which has claimed so many celebrities already this year.

Though he was also the face of Children in Need, and hosted a variety of chat shows and game shows over the decades, to me he will always be the acerbic commentator remarking on everything from the hosts, to the host city, to the dress sense of the performers throughout the camp affair that is the ESC, even though he retired from it a few years ago due to his dislike of the political cliques that skew the voting results.

For a time, he was even the second-slowest Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car on UK Top Gear, at 2:03.4.

Farewell, Sir Terry. You will be missed.

I went to the dentist today, and found out that I have a large infection (which would explain the painful swelling I've had under my nose). I'll have to have the remaining top front tooth (which had a root fracture and a root canal performed on it) extracted, as well as seven fillings and a metal partial plate with three teeth on it (to also replace a side tooth). All this comes to the princely sum of NZD2,895 (about USD2,220).

If I absolutely have to I'll use my just paid-off credit card for as much as I can, but I'll be paying it off for years.

Time to not play WoW as much and clear up my very outstanding commissions. At least now I can buy WoW tokens with gold to pay my subscription (which is due for a 6-month renewal next month).

I turned 34 yesterday (3rd January). Fairly quiet day -- playing WoW, watching MacGyver and Knight Rider. I got NZD50.00 (USD38.49 at current rate) put into my account by my mother, so I'm wondering if I should get a picture commission. One thing I've realised that I should get is a character reference sheet, but I don't think that amount of money would get me a full sheet, especially since my fursona is a chakat. Any ideas?

Fun fact: I share my birthday with Glen A. Larson, creator of the Knight Rider series.

Christmas was a very quiet time for me, being home alone. My mate  sussurak was (and still is at time of writing) away for chemotherapy, so I spent most of my day with MacGyver.

Sussurak got me DVD sets of seasons 1 and 2 of MacGyver, and season 1 of Knight Rider, some of the best gifts I've ever received, I think.

Yesterday (26th) I bought myself a new laptop to replace the Acer Aspire I currently have, and which is not powerful enough now to run World of Warcraft since the prepatch for Warlords of Draenor was released. Now I can transfer zones in around 30 seconds or less, compared to over a minute for my Acer. I can also run with a higher graphics setting, though frame rate is always very variable -- I could get 60 FPS in Ironforge, but only 25 in Orgrimmar, for example. It's weird.

Anyway, on another note, I like to do the Target puzzle in the local newspaper. This is a 3x3 grid of letters, containing at least one 9-letter word, and the objective is to make as many 4-letter words as possible, with the restriction of no -s plurals and no proper nouns. The centre letter must be used in all words.

For example, yesterday's one was:

A N A
H C M
R N O

I figured it out in about half a second. It's not a word I can recall using, but it's a word I definitely know all the same.

My question is, is there a word for being able to glance at something like that, and immediately know what the 9-letter word/s is/are? I think I did find a word to describe being able to enumerate a group of objects at a glance (and there's a limit on how many objects there are before we have to actively count them, somewhere around 7-10), but I've no idea what it was now, and I think it was a fancy one.

If anyone has any ideas or clues, let me know! Also, if you can figure out the 9-letter word in my example without cheating, and within about a minute, give yourself a cookie.

Ctrl+F5 to see it. Thanks to  kyma for a wonderful job.

It's two years today since I started playing World of Warcraft. August 28, 2012 was the day that Patch 5.0.4, the pre-expansion update for Mists of Pandaria was launched, and me with it.

Two years later, I have nineteen characters (some languishing a little, I'll admit), some of whom I'm rather fond of. At this point I have the following:

Alliance:
90: Kaléna (Worgen Druid, Feral/Restoration)
90: Piyenna (Draenei Monk, Brewmaster/Windwalker)
90: Kithreona (Dwarf Death Knight, Frost/Blood)
70: Vasariana (Night Elf Druid, Restoration/Feral)
47: Anyeza (Human Paladin, Holy/Retribution)
46: Lochlea (Dwarf Priest, Shadow)
44: Janisera (Gnome Warlock, Destruction)
32: Bailaara (Pandaren Shaman, Enhancement)
31: Ebonard (Worgen Rogue, Subtlety)
30: Caodi (Pandaren Mage, Frost)

Horde:
90: Dannisan (Pandaren Hunter, Marksmanship)
90: Kazara (Tauren Hunter, Beast Mastery)
90: Lindamar (Troll Druid, Feral/Restoration)
90: Rhuna (Tauren Monk, Windwalker/Brewmaster)
86: Ankhara (Orc Rogue, Combat)
76: Tsenadra (Blood Elf Death Knight, Frost/Blood)
50: Ziranei (Blood Elf Monk, Mistweaver/Windwalker)
30: Onyssaria (Undead Warrior, Arms)
25: Syntaxera (Goblin Shaman, Elemental)

Overall, I have more of a liking for the Alliance, but you'd see that I have an almost even distribution between factions. All but two of my characters are female, too -- only Rhuna and Caodi are male. This is mostly because the female models are far more attractive to me.

I'm rather looking forward to the next expansion, though some of the changes will take some getting used to.

Now this project looks interesting -- I don't want to wait until January to read it! >.<

Back it: Griffin Ranger

Signal boost from  dustmeat for gryphon lovers.

This weekend, I came back up to Hamilton from New Plymouth (I'm currently still here) to play in this year's National Scrabble tournament. Based on my rating, I started fifth in the E grade (five grades, A is the best players, E is new/middling players), and clawed my way through fifteen games to win 12, and the medal/$80 prize for coming first in the grade. My rating was 742 to start, and I'm now 855, the highest I've ever been, I think. As a comparison, the lowest rating in the A grade was 1737 to start.

As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've won the grade at the Nationals, though I've previously won the E grade at another tournament, while I was suffering through an increasingly bad case of the flu.

If you're bored already, move on. The following I guess is more of a record to myself of what I got. * denotes an invalid word, and a lower case letter indicates a blank.

Games won: 12 of 15.
Margin: 714 (1)
Bonus words: 13
Average score: 368

Bonus words played, and score:
IRISATE (to make iridescent), 72
LARDIER (more like lard), 73
SANDIER (more like sand), 72
TRIPPING (the act of one who trips), 82
PRETEND (to make believe), 84
STARCHED (STARCH, to stiffen fabric), 68
REINING (REIN, to restrain or hold back), 64
DEVOURS (eats voraciously), 74
ENTAILED (ENTAIL, to restrict inheritance to a specified line), 60
BRAVEST (BRAVE, showing courage), 76
GUILDERS (former monetary unit of the Netherlands), 77
REVISION (a revised version), 62
FUSIONS (FUSION, the act of melting together), 79

(1) Margin, or spread as it's usually called, is a cumulative total of the score difference in each game.

TRIPPING was a gift to me; it was the end of the game, and I was considering trying TRIPING*. My opponent played TAINT, providing me with the I I needed to go out with TRIPpING.

In game 6 I had AEEGLT? on my rack. I was sure there were several words there, but I couldn't find anything. I've now since found that there are 20 words, a couple of which came to mind (such as GELATEs), but I wasn't sure of their validity. I might have won this game if the X hadn't been hiding in the bottom of the tile bag for my opponent to pick up; she played NIX for 30, eliminating the slim lead I had over her, and beating me by just 4 points, even with the 12 points she gave me from her leftover tiles after I'd gone out. This was also the game in which I had my highest-scoring bonus, PRETEND (to her 78-point opener tHRIVING).

DEVOURS was a gamble, because the only place to hook onto was the front of OHO; I had no idea if SOHO was a valid word, but I was desperate to make up some ground (the score was 204 to 308 at that point), so I made the play. My opponent challenged SOHO, and I was gratified to find that it was valid, and gave me an extra 5 points for the challenge. I lost that game by 28, which was still far better than the hundred or so behind I'd been just before. SOHO, by the way, is apparently (according to Zyzzyva), a huntstman's halloo.

I think the best game for me was game 11, where neither of us had any bonus words, but I won by 137 (387 to 250) by getting the Q, Z and X, and managing to score a total of 92 off them, or the words that contained them. Best score for that game was my 56 for NOX (and 53 for FERNY, which made MOZE on the way down), compared to my opponent's highest score of just 26.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bo0XnUMIcAAJnQj.png

Or, if that doesn't work, try https://twitter.com/KageSatsuki/sta.....128960/photo/1

... Austria.

For those who follow it, Conchita Wurst, the 'bearded lady', triumphed for Austria in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, with the appropriately named song 'Rise Like a Phoenix'. Austria's only victory came 48 years ago in 1966, and it was a joy to see them finally claim a win again. The song was definitely one of my favourites -- I love a good power ballad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaolVEJEjV4

It was also good to see San Marino and Montenegro make it into the grand final for the first time, even if they didn't score too highly.

France, sadly, brought up the rear with a paltry 2 points -- it was a very oddball entry called 'Moustache'.

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine was very evident, in the boos whenever Russia was awarded an 8, 10 or 12 (though I admit to liking the Russian entry as well, more so than the Ukrainian one).

Next year, back to Vienna (probably, if they don't choose another host city).

33 today, 33 today...

... it's only a matter of time before someone does this:

http://www.therock.net.nz/The-great.....0/Default.aspx

Current mood: Amused

As I write this, I have earplugs in, and I can still hear too much of the bangs, screeches and explosions going on throughout the city.

I almost wish that Guy Fawkes, as he was popularly known, /had/ succeeded in his Gunpowder Plot. Perhaps then we wouldn't be 'celebrating' it by letting off fireworks.

I despise this time of year. Come November 2nd, everyone stocks up on fireworks while they can before sales stop on November 6, and even before nightfall one can hear them being let off.

They're pretty, yes, but they're also incredibly noisy. The people next door had particularly loud ones that scared the heck out of me; I can't imagine how animals would be reacting to all this racket.

We might not have skyrockets and Double Happies (or whatever they were called), but they're still at the very least an auditory menace -- and it's also very common to see the wrappers and boxes and holders lying scattered around, because people are lazy and don't bother tidying up after themselves.

I have no problems with public displays, properly organised and funded. I do, however, object to having the public making nuisances of themselves. I still think sales of fireworks to the general public should be banned.

So far no one's let them off much later than 11pm, but there's almost always one...

Current Mood: Very irritated.

It's been a year ago today since I started playing World of Warcraft. <.<

Today (3 January) I turn 32. I plan on making a chocolate cake, a chicken pie, job applications and playing World of Warcraft. :p

Yeah, I've jumped onto the World of Warcraft bandwagon. <.< Once I figured out the awkward controls (i.e. WASD and the like), I've grown to rather like it. For me, the best part is exploring the world, amusing interplays between the NPCs, and the quests are often quite interesting. And the little pop culture references are great too.

My main character is a Tauren Hunter (level 71) and an alternate is a Worgen Druid (level 15). Being a druid definitely has some great perks. Beats being a lumbering cow. :p

I rather enjoyed stitching the Typhlosion and Cobalion I made recently, so I'm offering small (up to 100x100) cross-stitch commissions. Pokémon are fairly easy to do, but I can do other pictures as well, e.g. icons or FA avatars.

For a Pokémon, a small one (e.g. Bulbasaur) would take about three days to complete, and a larger one (e.g. Zekrom) may take a week or more, depending on complexity.

As far as costs go, a rough estimation is about NZD30.00 (USD23.80) for a larger one, and NZD20.00 (USD16.00) for a smaller one -- this pays for the canvas, threads and labour. Postage is at most NZD7.00 (USD5.55). The average number of colours seems to be around 8-10; some have fewer, some have more.

For Pokémon, browse Bulbapedia and send me a note with the URL for the sprite you want done. If you want anything else done, just let me know. This'd be good for people with matched icon sets, e.g. those who have avatars facing each other.

A new artist has appeared on the scene, and her name is  jaringdale! As yet she hasn't got much up yet, what with just starting out in the furry fandom, but she's a local (i.e. New Zealander), and she loves drawing taurs.

So, any chakats, foxtaurs or other taurs who want a picture, note her and see what she can do for you. I've just put in a sketch commission; looking forward to seeing it. ^.^