A conspiracy!

While at work the other day, my friend made a shocking discovery. A jigsaw, labeled as a 100 piece jigsaw was found to contain no less than 104 pieces! Assuming that this must be some error on our part we counted and recounted the pieces then assembled the jigsaw to make sure no pieces were missing or belonged to another jigsaw. But there it was, a completed jigsaw with no less than 4 pieces extra to the number clearly displayed on the box. Another jigsaw was checked, it too had four pieces more than displayed on the box. Such widespread deception can only be part of some dark scheme.

Be vigilant - check your jigsaws, if we can't trust Ravensburger it may be too late for all of us!!

In trepidation,

A Figleaf of your imagination.

Word of the post: Ramboesque - adj.

in the aggresive, mindless style of the fictional character Rambo

Weekly Quote W/E 24/11/07

Well since there's not much to actually say about my goings on then I figured some kind of repetitive easy post would come in handy for keeping the blog looking all new and used. Since a dictionary of quotations was bestowed upon me a "quote of the week" seemed like a good idea. OK so most of the quotes will likely come from the Simpsons and other such media, but you never know I might get something good and deep out once in a while.

I'll start off with what's decorating my Facebook page for the first few weeks

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" - Jim Elliot

See you, either in a week or if something interesting happens!

More from Chester

I was brought again to the town of Chester by an unfortunate event. On Impulse I decided to go bowling with my friend Tim. Read more about him at his blog - link on my sidebar. But as we arrived at the alley we discovered that the bowl was fully booked until six (we were there at about two) - an unheard of situation. Left with nothing around us but furniture shops we decided to walk from the out of town retail park into chester itself, a good twenty minutes walk or so. Then we walked around chester for a bit grabbed some food and left.

Such events, annoying as they are, can often be quite fun in and of themselves and I must admit that despite the freezing cold we did have a good time. a highlight was listening to a rather extreme street preacher who was denouncing Islam as we passed and then within the same sentence moved on to the evil of materialism, explaining how the sin of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll came about in the sixties, led by "those four horsemen of the apocalypse from Liverpool, John Lennon Paul..." It was certainly an interesting interperetation, though I can't exactly see how the Beatles were sent from God and brought war, pestilence and the like to Earth!!

It certainly made the day out more interesting!! By the way, this isn't the african guy who is regularly in Chester - that guy's a legend!!!

Word of the post: Pugnacious - adj.

fond of fighting, belligerent

Squirrel based musings

I recently took a trip to Chester, which working afternoons only now affords me. As well as perusing the shops I decided to take a little stroll along the walls adjacent to Chester cathedral.

Whilst approaching the walls I noticed there is a designated pigeon feeding area featuring a dovecote type structure and a mass of the undying lords of traffic dust, commonly known as pigeons (if I haven't already posted by pigeon theory I shall do so soon). But creeping towards them, excellently disguised in similar colours was a squirrel, creeping amongst the birds to access the free food. This incident prompted me to remark to myself - "aha! A fox in wolve's clothing!" and it wasn't for some time that I realised that it wasn't quite the phrase I was looking for!!

Later I was reminded that, pests as they may be, squirrels are rather cute too! I observed one licking itself clean in the usual manner of such animals, but then it decided to dry itself off, and grabbed it's own tail and rubbed it's face clean, much as a human would use a towel. Such innovation got that individual squirrel my attention and respect.

Till next time!

Word of the post: Antidisestablishmentarianism -noun

opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England.

There's a new hero in town!!

Caption reads: Time Travelling Secret Agent Dinosaur For Hire

When you can't think of a post to write you can always steal content from Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade is an excellent website featuring regular updates in comic book form and indepth reviews of games both table top and video. If I had the remotest bit of artistic talent I would be doing my utmost best to rip them off, but as it is you're stuck with this blog for now!! The character above was created in a recent comic discussing the Writer's Guild strike - which left Gabe, the artist, on his own to come up with something to write about!!

Better than reading my explanation would be to visit the site itself - you'll find a link in my sidebar

Writer's Bloc 4 - Delusions of Grandeur

This rather unusual item here is a Hugo award, given to the best writers of Science Fiction every year as well as artists, editors, filmmakers and other contributors to the genre. As an aspiring writer of Science Fiction my heart is very much set on getting a Hugo, Nebula or ( a ta more realistic since it's British but still very much in the far distance) Arthur C. Clarke award.


I do like to entertain the vision that my first publication will so wow publishers and readers that it will win the prize and that fame and fortune will no doubt follow. This is almost certainly to be a delusion, especially for a debut piece, though I do hope that I can continue to improve in standard and create a work worthy of rememberance.

As such having a trophy like this is good so there's something to aim for. If I hope for the cool trophy (and hold the realistic expectation that I won't get it in mind) then it will act as a spur not only for me to write, but for me to ensure that my writing is the best that it can be. In Uni it was simple, I wanted to do the best piece of work to get the best grade, the award will hopefully provide the same kind of motivation, and once a piece is finished if it even gets published I'll be most pleased.

But the whole thing does raise the issue of motivation, especially as I'm in the middle of deciding what to to with my future. I would love to be a writer and since I passed my degree I obviously have some competence in the field and I guess it would be good to make use of my three year's training. But there is also the call of teaching, which I've also got a lot of experience in and I also know I'd be making a difference if I went into it.

I believe that my actions should serve not only myself but the God who made me, and this is where motivation comes in. If I'm just out for the glory and the award then I'm probably better off not bothering 'cause there's a decent chance I'll get neither. But at the sime time, the ability to write is a gift from my maker and I want to be able to use it to his glory.

So there are decisions to be made and things to think through...but it still would be cool if I got the trophy!!

Word of the post: Venerable –adjective

1.	commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character: