Wow. I was woken up in the middle of night by the sound of large bits of hail being flung into my kitchen and bathroom windows by a howling South Easter. Then there was the thunder and lightning. It was quite the storm, and I’m really glad my windows held out!

Saturday I ran the first session of a Roleplaying for Beginners game. This was more of a meet and greet session than an actual game session: the players got to say hello to each other, and I explained a bit about what roleplaying is, followed by the very basics of the rules we’ll be using. Then came the fun part, and thankfully the portion that took up the bulk of our time: we decided on a vague story that we’ll be playing (secret, occult societies, possibly a bit Lovecraftian), and created the characters.

I think the afternoon went well: everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and all the players took part in each others’ character creation process, chipping in ideas for backstory and motivation. I’m glad that they were willing to collaborate like that. I’m looking forward to see how everyone plays together when the game starts in a week or two.

This last Tuesday I passed my driving test. I am now a fully licensed driver, which I find somehow amusing. Getting a license feels like something you should have to put a lot of work in to; it feels as though practising by just going out and driving for a bit shouldn’t be enough to let you pass, yet somehow it is. But I’ve enjoyed the bits of driving that I have done, and I’m looking forward to one day having a car of my own. And until then I will get my kicks out of driving my friends’ cars

The driver’s test was stressful. The only thing that I sometimes struggle with when driving is reverse parking / alley docking. I did some practise parking before my test, where I did the alley docking perfectly: I turned the car at the correct time, straightened out fine and neatly reversed into the bay. Then came the yard portion of my driver’s test. Everything here went well except for the alley docking. Every time I straightened out of the turn the car was either too far to the left or to the right of the bay. But I managed to wiggle the car into the bay without hitting any of the poles (which would be an immediate fail), a feat which made me very happy at the time.

And now the whole testing affair is over! Now I get to enjoy the act of driving without worrying about whether I’ll make it through some test or not. Yippee!

Today was one of those days when you do a number of different things for the first time. One first: I got behind the wheel of a car and drove on the road. That was exciting and stressful. I was out at Greenpoint with a driving instructor, on some small, residential roads, in a car which seemt expensive and like something I didn’t want to ding too much. But it went OK, even though when I got behind the wheel everything I’d been trying to remember about the clutch, K-53, and how sensitive the pedals were, kept on fading from memory. But I managed to pull out and do some really slow driving. And all this without any unwanted dings and pedestrian fatalities.

Another first: a cop (not a traffic officer, but a real police officer) asked to see my license. Talk about combing stressors: first time on the road, first time asked for a license by the Law. I wasn’t even doing anything illegal, I was just stopped at a stop street.

Another first: I ran across UCT campus today. Just like being stopped by the cops, this isn’t a first that I wanted to do, but it did stop an umbrella of mine from dissapearing in the nasty clutches of some undergrad. I’d just got off one of the UCT shuttles only to realise that I’d forgotten my umbrella onboard. By now the shuttle was already driving away along ring road. I’d already lost it once already this year (thanks Simon for finding it!), so I ran after it – cutting across campus to run up the stairs (and hill) behind the food court to reach the West Side shuttle stop.

Only the shuttle had already moved on – I hoped only to the next stop, but I was worried it and my umbrella were already on their way to town.

I’d already run half the length of campus, and now I ran the remaining half. I was really relieved that from there on it was all down hill. And yes, the shuttle was still at the South Side stop, and I found my umbrella being kept warm for me in the arms of an undergrad. I was probably a disturbing site: out of breath, slightly sweaty, and really short on words. But I was damn happy to get that umbrella back.

And I really don’t want to do that run again.

Tonight I replaced my old climbing shoes with a pair of Evolv Quests. Chris and I spent some time at the climbing gym and so I tried breaking them in. They seemed to climb just fine in the gym, although they still give new-shoe pain in my toes. At the time when my toes weren’t hurting, though, the shoes did feel slightly less sensitive than my previous pair. But I’ll wait until they’ve broken in a bit before deciding.

I took a fall tonight. Unfortunately it wasn’t anywhere exciting: I was carrying a bunch of groceries, had just got into my apartment block, and then proceeded to trip on the very first step leading up to my flat.

My left arm was pinned down by my pack of groceries (in left hand), and one of those huge packs of toilet paper (under left arm pit). It’s odd how I had enough time to think: “Bugger, no way to stop myself,” and then, “Fuck, gonna break my groceries.”

Thankfully, all the groceries were just fine. And so was I! Except that a nail I began tearing last week now tore completely into the quick, and was bloody (no pain, thankfully).

Now I just feel stupid for tripping on stairs.

This has been an odd series to read, somewhat enjoyable, but very much a chore. I’m about 80 pages from the end of the third book and I’ve decided not to finish it: I no longer have the energy to read it for more than a few minutes at a time. But many of my friends enjoyed the book, so I thought I’d briefly give some of my thoughts on it.

The First Law is the debut of Joe Abercrombie, and is fairly standard, “gritty”, genre fantasy. It has an ensemble cast, and we the reader follow the novel’s fairly standard array of fantasy characters through their various attempts at preventing unwanted forces from overtaking the world.

The plot summary: The Union, a large country made up of various states, is under attack on multiple fronts: its northern frontier is being invaded by wild, menacing barbarians, while in the east the port city of Dagoska is threatened by the highly religious Gurkish Empire.

While the Union is mobilising to handle these threats, a wizard arrives at the Union capital and proceeds to lead a motley group of people on a quest to locate a magical weapon that will save the day. All of these plot strands go horribly wrong and right in various ways, some characters fall in love,  lose love, become kings and generals, and die.

While the story gives us nothing new, it is enjoyable. However, we do have to contend with the characterisation. Each character is well defined, and one can usually figure out who a chapter is about from how it’s written. However, the characterisation crosses over fairly early into caricature: each character’s most extreme oddities are highlighted and stressed. This comes across in the writing style: throughout the series any chapter concerning a given character tends to use certain catch phrases and various stylistic mannerisms specific to the character. Chapters concerning  Glokta, the inquisitor, often have every paragraph end with a sentence concerning his thoughts and views on what has just preceded, always sarcastic and acerbic. Chapters concerning Ferro, a mistrustful demon-halfbreed, are often concerned with listing things that she hates or mistrusts. Logen, the berserker, has chapters filled with catch phrases such, “Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say <insert momentary state of being here>,” or perhaps, “You have to be realistic,” among many others. This is repeated often enough that by the third book the characters feel like little more than a collection of these phrases and mannerisms. I found the tedium of repeatedly
having to read this growing into irritation by the third book, overshadowing any enjoyment I found in the storyline or the novels as a whole.

Through the course of their adventures the characters grow, change, and have things revealed about them, but most of this is not surprising or deviating from type: Jezal, a Noble’s son who has never worked for anything in his life, learns through hardship to work and care for others. The magician — who like all magicians is full of hubris and has hidden agendas of his own — has been lying about his past, his role in bringing about current events, and ultimately what he wants to achieve. I haven’t read the last 80 pages, but this stands for the first two books and the bulk of the last.

What you get out of this series will depend on what you’re looking for: if you enjoy the darker, ensemble fantasy works of authors like George R. R. Martin, then this series might be something you’ll enjoy — from the setting and plot down to the characters (or caricatures) themselves. But if the thought of continuously having a caricature remind you to “be realistic” sounds like more of an irritation than good characterisation, you’ll probably be more interested in reading something else.

The series opening: “Logen plunged through the trees, bare feet slipping and sliding on the wet earth, the slush, the wet pine needles.”

Books in the series:

• The Blade Itself (2006)
• Before they are Hanged (2007)
• The Last Argument of Kings (2008)

Joe Abercrombie’s website:    http://www.joeabercrombie.com/
Joe Abercrombie on Wikipedia:     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Abercrombie

A friend of mine, Felix, is visiting SA for the next few weeks. Chris and I took him out to Silvermine yesterday to get some climbing done.

Standard butt shot of an abseiler

Abseiling in to the crag was fun: at the end of it we were suspended in the air, feet touching nothing until we reached the bottom — although by this stage the bottom wasn’t far away. The serenity that comes when you’re hanging free from everything is something I enjoy a lot.

Felix clipping in to a bolt

The rest of the day was good fun, if uneventful. But it made me think of the changing face of my fear of heights / falling: I led the abseil down, and didn’t feel too nervous clipping in to the abseil or stepping over the edge. And these days I barely feel nervous when reaching the top of a route, or cleaning a route, or just enjoying the view. I can feel something that could grow into fear, but it’s at the back of my mind — like a forgotten word on the tip of your tongue. Thankfully, this particular word usually stays forgot.

But then I can still get nervous and sometimes out-and-out scared doing silly things, like walking along a trail with a steep drop-off to one side. Moments like that are extremely frustrating, but hopefully more exposure is going to help me cope in the areas where it still affects me.

Yesterday I felt the fear when we were climbing out of the crag: I’d reached the top of a route and was sitting on a three-by-two-or-so meter ledge, unclipped but perfectly safe. Still, I had to take a few minutes to relax enough before I could do a short (and safe) three meter climb up a chimney at the back of the ledge to top out and reach the path down.

So frustrating. But at least I’m coping with it substantially better than when I started, when it was fear and nerves all of the time.

After climbing, we landed up at Olympia Cafe for wine, supper, and relaxing.

I just released my first free software project: CL-HEAP. It’s a small library implementing some heap data structures and priority queues. I wrote it for my phd and thought that it would be neat little thing to release into the wild. I’d say, “Download it and try it out,” but it’s really not that exciting unless you’re implementing algorithms in Common Lisp.

Hopefully someone other than me will use it!

And also let me back in, without a key. Because last night I walked out of my flat, and as soon as the Yale lock clicked closed, I knew: I didn’t have my keys on me.

I was off to see my father on his birthday, and I knew that either my mother or my sister had my spare keys, only they were — as are all spare keys — unfindable. After considering climbing up to my kitchen window on the first floor, and possible even tying a safety rope to the balcony above it, I gave in and just called a lock smith.

Who arrived this morning (saving me R200 from calling him out in the night), and now I’m back in my apartment. Yay!

Last night’s spare key debacle left me so cranky. I need to make some more sets and distribute them.

I had a great  climbing session  tonight. It was my first time back indoors after a few months of outdoor climbing, and I’ve missed it. I always come away from time spent in the gym feeling as if I’ve worked harder than I do outdoors — although the mental aspects of climbing outside are so much more challenging and interesting, trying to manage both my fear and any over-confidence I might feel during a climb.

I climbed a great 22 tonight on top-rope. At the time it felt as if I just flew up it, since all the moves came together for me in a way that they usually only do on easier routes. I also managed to visualise climbing the route beforehand, and the climb worked out almost exactly as I saw it. I did fall once, at the crux. It was a stretchy bit, that required smearing and placing a foot and hand on the same grip, but the second time I didn’t have any problems with the move, and felt stable all the way through.

I wish every 22 felt like that.