Know your enemy, know yourself, win the war

Well, I took my DE army down to Pi yesterday and didn't get quite the arse whipping that I expected! Not to say that I wasn't beaten - YY beat me with his HE, achieving a solid victory, whilst I beat the Hordes of Chaos army with a massacre - although I must admit I had Donkey and a couple of other hardcore WHFB gamers advising me on tactics! So now the question is how will I do on Saturday in the Tournament without advisors? Personally I am hoping to draw YY and his High Elves for a grudge match :)

Tonight sees the resumption of Taekwon-Do - which might mean that I am wearing my Blue belt! How quickly the new belt has arrived - and more scary is that the next grading is in late May! Soooo fast! Interestingly, we have found that a 7th dan Head Honcho in Malaysia is one of the driving forces behind our rapid advancement (our as in Ru and I, not as in Our because of a relationship to Elizabeth Windsor). I always thought it was just MSL trying to get us to Black ASAP, but, no - there are other forces at work.....uum, conspiracy theories abound.

Quite pleased to see that most people at Pi seemed to be at least a bit impressed with my painting - especially the Manticore, Bolt Thrower crew, Witch elves, and the Harpies. Makes it all worth while.

Well, as you can see today is a slow day in Neil-Land, and rather than squander everything in this post I shall hold some in reserve.

Before I do go I would like to recommend the following books:

The Reader - Bernhard Schlink - I give this four out of five - a good story - but DON'T read the last 10 pages before you have finished the whole thing - why spoil the story for yourself? Keep some tissues handy if good books move you...
Lives of the Monster Dogs - Kirsten Bakis - I give this five out of five - a really good, thought provoking novella
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - OK, it maybe "youth" literature, but then again so are "The Catcher in the Rye" and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Worth reading but do read all three books. Bears much (in terms of Theology) in common with CS Lewis. I loved the books - so four out of five
Coraline - Neil Gaiman Five out of five for a one hour (cover to cover) childrens style book that can still give adults the heeby jeebies. Plus the website has some funky flash....

I would also recommend "Wolves in the Walls" and "Stardust" except they are both by Neil Gaiman, and I don't want to have too many recommendations for one author - not to mention that he is hardly everyones cup of tea.

Tata and Taekwon