Dungeons & Dragons

It's difficult to believe that it has been almost 1.5 months since my last BLOG entry. I've had a tumultuous settling-in period with my Diploma of Library Services TAFE course. Somehow, it just doesn't feel as enjoyable this year - it seems much more technical & full on. The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) exam, which in general is an extremely dry and uninteresting subject, was an extremely hard paper - there were more than a few teary eyed students after the exam proclaiming they'd failed dismally. I've also had at least 1.5 weeks off due to sickness - so I guess this left me a little unprepared for the Dewey exam which was extremely difficult - I was actually shocked I passed it. Overall, I'm sitting on a 80% grade average. I view this as reasonably good, but I'm still holding out for a Distinction grade average at 83%.

Since starting holidays on 8 April, I've managed to cleanup my room, throwing away a lot of old clothes / books in the process. My room actually looks liveable in, again.

I've also started on Patricia Craig's biography of Canadian-Irish literary talent, Brian Moore. It's very good so far, giving an insightful account of Moore's ancestral background.

Other books to tackle over the next month include:

• Ian McEwan's "Enduring Love"
• Alex Miller's "Journey to the Stone Country"
• Allan Hollinghurst's "The Line of Beauty"

I've recently joined a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) roleplaying gaming group, and so far have found the gaming very addictive. I play my next game this coming Sunday. The people in the group are very pleasant and very passionate about the game.

This week I watched "The Day of the Triffids" (1981 BBC produced mini-series starring John Duttine), which was recently released on DVD. I was surprised to learn the series was directed by an Australian, the late Ken Hannam. Overall, I felt the presentation was reasonably faithful to John Wyndham's satisifying science fiction work, which is a classic in its own right.

Other DVDs to watch this holiday period include:

• The Bad Seed
• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
• Lantana

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to watch these over the next couple of days.

I'm hoping to make an active return to my BLOG, even if I can only afford to spend 5-10 minutes a day, I'll try to type something that's worthwhile, now that everything seems to be returning to normal in my life.

- NewcastleBoy