(no subject)

[slemslempike]

Dinner of Juba champions: crisps, Twixes and leftover pizza. The crisps were in single-serving packets, which is a nice change, especially since Pringles are now 48 SSP in JIT. Twixes are 10 SSP, and I realise I sound like someone complaining about how expensive things are nowadays, not like in my day, but the prices, man. I'm not sure why one of my Twix bars tasted like mint towards the end. The pizza was sausage pizza, with bad cheese. It was not very nice when I had it for lunch yesterday, and was even worse cold and old. I did however have a rather nice apple pie with ice cream for lunch at Bistro - I would not have been disappointed to eat it in another country.

Speaking of food in other countries, while in Cairo I dragged two of my colleagues on an epic trek to Heliopolis, and then a walk from City Stars mall via several wrong turns to The Fondue Pot, a restaurant that serves, you guessed it, FONDUE. It was really great, though I had a literal cheese headache for the rest of the night. I intend to make people come with me as often as possible, to try the raclette, the fondue bourginnon, the mini pizzas you cook yourself at the table, and of course the chocolate fondue. There is another fondue restaurant in Maadi, so obviously I need to go there so I can compare which is the best experience.

I am now a the start of the 8th series of That 70s Show (the final one) and I don't think I'm going to miss it when it's gone. I have enjoyed playing spot the guest actor - there has been a Community theme with the Dean as a weird jeweller, and Shirley as a copper who isn't a stripper. (The Dean is also in an episode of According to Jim, which I have just finished the first series of, playing a weird shopkeeper.) The amount of times women are called whores, and that's the only punchline to the "joke" is pretty awful. I like Jackie a lot though. Did I mention that I can download again now I'm living in Cairo? (Actually, I can very slowly download in the hotel I'm in at the moment.) Of the new shows, I have tried:

Quantico - I think I like this, and will keep watching
Grandfathered - I did not like this, and two episodes in I don't know why they made it
The Grinder - I quite liked this, and it is entertaining enough to continue with for the moment, but probably not once all the show are back
Dr Ken - good good why?

I played and finished A Dark Room again, and now I'm playing and really liking Kingdom of Loathing, and playing despite great boredom Clicker Heroes. I am also still thoroughly addicted to The Simpsons Tapped Out, though I really wish it was a PC game so that I could use a mouse on a larger screen instead of dragging things around with my fingers. I'm too lazy for that. Also my phone is now full of games etc and keeps crashing. I thought about buying a Fairphone 2, but they are quite expensive, and I have yet to manage to put my money where my mouth is. Maybe when I get back from Bolivia.

Comments

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BRAZIL??? Stop going places without me!!!!

CLARE I have discovered a show that I think you might like! It is called Please Like Me and it is gentle Australian comedy / drama and there are two seasons and I have torrented all of them and watched them over the past few days in Freetown! I AM SO PLEASED TO HAVE DISCOVERED A SHOW OF MY VERY OWN, rather than something that other people have told me about.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Argh not Brazil, Bolivia. Now changed. Natalie keeps saying I'm off to Brazil, and clearly it has embedded itself in my mind. THOUGH complaining about me going to countries without you is RICH Ms off-to-Myanmar and 40 countries ahead of me!

I very much enjoy Please Like Me! I do not much enjoy Josh Thomas generally, but I thought it was lovely. Have I recommended Dance Academy to you? Australian teens at a performing arts boarding school. You'd love it, I'm sure. (I'm also trying to find a route to watch Ready for This, which is about Indigenous teenagers who are all good at stuff - read about it here: http://no-award.net/2015/10/12/no-award-watches-stuff-ready-for-this/) also is Indigenous roughly interchangeable with Aboriginal?

But well done on getting your very own show! It is a nice show to have. The next series is about to start this month, I think. (Also watch Twentysomethings, which is not gentle but is quite great.)

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Damnit! I should have known that any telly that I have discovered you will know about already. How do you manage to keep up with television from ALL THE DIFFERENT LANDS? Anyway I am excited about the third season. I've never seen any of Josh Thomas's other stuff but I did find him significantly more annoying in the second season than in the first. I have a great urge to consume Australian media at the moment, which I think is related to just having had my twenty-year high school reunion(s) splashed all over Facebook and being reminded that I am actually semi-Australian after all.

Re. Aboriginal / Indigenous - I feel like there was a shift around the 1990s from Aboriginal to Indigenous - possibly because the word Aboriginal had been used pejoratively a lot? But I don't know what the current nomenclature is (see above re. any Australian cred I may have once had running out 20 years ago).

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Bolivia? La Paz? Check out the cholita wrestling, I really wanted to see it but never got a chance! (My guide was too scared to take me to El Alto, which is rougher than La Paz (which can be pretty rough, but I'm guessing mild compared to many places you've seen.)
Waaah! Cholita wrestling looks amazing! :D

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

So far my only definite plan is to go to Cochabamba to stay with my friend - I need to reread my guidebook to plan a bit more, but I'm definitely planning to be in La Paz for a bit too. I can be quite timid when I'm travelling on my own, and Latin America is entirely new to me so I might avoid El Alto too :)

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I've never had any trouble in La Paz, wandering about the centre bit alone, (been twice though only for a couple of days each time) though tourist guides do confess it's rough and one tourist was mugged outside our hotel.
The witches market is good, if you've ever needed a mummified llama foetus you'll be spoiled for choice.

Report back on Cochabamba!

[irrrtum.livejournal.com]

I ordered a Fairphone 2 after having lost/had stolen my ancient phone and 400 or so euros. Several people had told me I was acting like a millionaire, walking around with 400 euros like that, so I thought, well if the cap fits.

Ooh yeah, Bolivia sounds like tremendous fun. And I'd love to see cholita wrestling as well.

[peeeeeeet.livejournal.com]

My CH clan is "Calufrax" if you want to join :) I think you have to be at least level 50 before the tab pops up. By the looks of things it might benefit new players more than old farts like me who already have plenty of everything

[jekesta]

I am really really angry with tapped out for turning my town RIDICULOUSLY HORRIBLY UGLY just for a stupid holiday I don't even approve of. I know for people who are not so river themed as I am it might all be very well, but MY BEAUTIFUL TOWN. So I'm ignoring it until November when I hope it will right itself.

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

I played a bit of A Dark Room, built a large town and assumed I was having a beautiful love affair with the builder, then got killed by a beast in a cave and got bored of having to wait to increase my wood supplies.

I don't know if you're interested in Steam games - Steam can be a bit of a nightmare with its constant updating - but if you like exploration games I would thoroughly recommend Don't Starve. It's a beautiful little game, beautifully animated and quite complex. It's got permadeath - so if you die you have to start all over again in a whole new world - but it's still really lovely and chill if you just want to mess around with it for a while.

[everthere.livejournal.com]

grandfathered is terrible but I like the woman in it :(