The Death Gate Cycle
It's been a very, very long time since I've read The Death Gate Cycle. So long that I forgot just how much inspiration I sourced from the series! Weis and Hickman are an amazing writing duo.
The most interesting thing when re-reading it, is seeing what I remembered, and what I'd forgotten. Haplo was pretty much how I remembered, but I forgot how much I hated Bane. I'd forgotten all the "endgame" characters and plotlines, I even thought there was supposed to be a fake Haplo or fake Alfred but it looks like I was wrong. I also couldn't remember if we met Rue or not.
But my goodness, the magic of possibility. The runes, the circles, the wave. The limiting of possibilities. The accursed knife, Hugh the Hand and the Brotherhood, the necromancy.... The description of the perspective flip! That Hugh had died, and nothing could change that, so Alfred "leapfrogged" so to speak to bring him back. It's a fixed position in time, but if you walk around so that you were behind the fixed spot instead of in front?! I mean I knew I'd adapted that to my story too, but I'd forgotten how I'd first gotten the idea.
I really have to go back and revisit all my worlds, and see just how much influence the Death Gate series had, because it's such an awesome set of books!
Lunar New Year 2023
It's been a while since I've posted about an adventure. Are we finally back to the days of crowds everywhere and fun street events? Hopefully! This is the first Perth Lunar New Year celebration since 2020, and it was fun!
I'm glad I read up about the event before going - at first I'd made an assumption that it was directly in the middle of what I considered the Chinatown area, but instead, it was in Northbridge Piazza, a place I would usually go straight past or never visit, so it was good that I planned in advance!
The premier didn't make it to the festival but the deputy premier, the consulate general, and the mayor were all here!
The streets were packed with people, parades, and stalls. And look at the "3" sticker falling off the inflatable gates lol.
There was a stage where there were heaps of performances too, ranging from kids singing and dancing, all the way to adult groups who did the same!
And of course the highlight - the lion dancing and kung fu! I love watching the lion dances!
Happy Year of the Rabbit! (and cat if you're Vietnamese!)
Am I getting a lemon?!
Last year my lemon plant tried to make a lemon, then failed miserably. Looks like it's trying to make another lemon this year; all the fruit fell off except one, which might have some hope! Let's see how it goes!
Lemoooon
Nothing more to collect!
806 hours played... not bad! I don't think I can get a 5BC 5 boss modified boss rush flawless though... that's definitely beyond my skill level!
Swan Lake has made me 1% more cultured!
Dear Diary,
Yesterday I went and watched Swan Lake by the WA Ballet Company. It was a last minute decision; two years ago I wanted to watch Dracula but alas, lockdowns meant that my ticket had to be cancelled, and so I exchanged them for a voucher that was valid for three years - and as a spur of the moment thing, decided to see what was on and found that Swan Lake was being performed!
I actually didn't know what it was about at all, and only skim read the synopsis. All I knew is that it had been interpreted into a WA specific context, and it was actually really interesting! Plus now I realise the "Swan Lake" music - before it had just always been stuff I'd heard but not known the origins, and now I know!
The performance was pretty amazing! Ballet takes so much strength, grace, and skill! Makes me miss my dancing days!
Maybe I'll book more theatre stuff next year!