Robot Claw

We’re in Sydney! The drive down yesterday (we hired a chauffeured car) was so comfortable I even napped in the car.

It’s been five years since mum was here, and the purpose of this trip is mostly shopping. We did a few hours of that yesterday, and filled a bag or two with goodies.

Of course we also visited the cathedral. The above shows us learning a new spell from The Pope. The weather here is nice, and as you can see I’m conspicuous in my shorts when even the hardest Oz dude is long-trousered. I guess my cold resistance is at maximum?

I had a kebab in mind for dinner but then remembered the ‘baby’ chicken sushi so I shoveled that in my gullet as I crushed my thirst by slamming down a can of Solo. Mum had the biggest salad roll I’ve ever seen.

Tomorrow we’ll shop more, and mums meeting a friend for a cuppa. I’d like to investigate the new Darling Harbour, but I’ll only have a short time so I may have to scamper down there like a mad ape. As if I’ve not done that before.

Went to Adam’s for the annual card flop fiesta. He had graciously secured all these (and boosters of a fifth set) to play:

This is a lot of magic, and in about 7 hours yesterday we played through Eldraine, Ixalan and Ravnica Remastered. Neither of us had played with any of these before so it was a lot of fun seeing the new cards and systems, and we managed to make half-decent decks with the limited cards we had.

As usual Adam ‘won’ overall (I won Eldraine, he won the other two) but there’s two more sets to play so it’s anyone’s game! Highlights of the games would be the following two cards, both of which won the games every time they were cast (I won two games with the green one, Adam won three with the White/Black one):

We’ll finish the other two prereleases next week, and I’m particularly looking forward to them since they were the first sets with the new booster type (called ‘play boosters’), which may make the games a little more unpredictable than usual.

Tomorrow mum and I are heading to Sydney for a couple of days. My jet lag has (mostly) passed so I’ll be able to explore more than I did the day I arrived. I wonder what I’ll find?

I went to Burger King Hungry Jacks today and ordered the usual: “Whopper Jr meal no mayo no ketchup” and received a burger with catsup on it. Turns out the stripling taking my order didn’t realize I meant ‘tomato sauce’ when I said ketchup.

I cursed myself for becoming an American, and vowed to never make this mistake again. The burger was good though, once they remade it 🙂

More shopping followed. It was much warmer and the rain had passed, as I happily strolled around (ie. walked for 3 hours) between mums and a game/hobby shop and the local (ie. an hours walk away) mall.

I had my second frozen coke of the trip. My first was shortly after arriving, and I froze my brain so much with that one it left me with PTSD. But I can report that I have regained my skill at frozen beverage consumption, and I don’t doubt many more will now follow.

I didn’t buy much. In fact my sole purchases were a tin of beetroot and a lettuce, which should convince you my diet isn’t as horrible as recent posts have suggested. Alas I should have also bought more Chomp bars, since somehow the twenty l bought since arriving are already gone…

It’s wet and cold cool today and I needed supplies for a craft project so I took the bus to Charlestown for some shopping. Australia is a magical place where treasures like this fill the stores:

“Small single filet Otropo meal no sauce please” is my standard order. I had it yesterday and today and mysteriously it cost different both times. Happily it was equally delicious!

My shopping was a success and it was time to head back. The rain had strengthened and it was fun riding in the bus with it coming down. Of course the walk back to mums from the bus stop was wet, but I enjoy rain so this didn’t bother me.

Speaking of mum she’s doing well. Her apartment is cozy and we’re having fun and laughing a lot as usual 🙂

I’m almost over jet lag, and the remaining symptoms seem to be lethargy. We’re off to Sydney in a couple of days and I’m sure I’ll be normal by then.

Today was also a notably day in my Puzzle & Dragons career. Specifically it was my 4000th day of uninterrupted logins. I’m still enjoying it too, but I wonder how much longer it could last?

I woke yesterday and shrugged off the jet lag like a champ. In an instant my energy levels were back to normal (120%) and I was ready to go:

Look at that picture of health 🙂

It was 6 am when I staggered into Maccas for breakfast. I’d been awake for hours and when I left the hotel I saw no one in the streets of Sydney except for toiling tradies. Maccas breakfast was the usual slop, only pricier than previous years:

Sue came to pick me up mid morning, and we headed to Newcastle. A couple of stops on the way home led to an unexpected charity store purchase of a 70s Conan pastiche paperback (Tark and The Golden Tide) but alas – jet lagged fool I was – I passed on this gem:

Sue graciously drove me to mums, and I was tired when we finally arrived. There’ll be more adventures with Sue this trip so you can look forward to them, but a bit later in the day she texted me about something I had brought her

Remember those wretched Nugget Buddies? Sue had requested them and I dutifully stashed them away. It turns out the sealed one – which had aged in my cupboard for six months – was the rare golden Buddy:

Isn’t that beautiful?