2016.07.10 01:00 - precarious

The Guardian for this meeting was Wol.

Alessa Tzal: Guten morgen :)
Wol Euler: good morning!
Wol Euler: long time no see
Alessa Tzal: How are you?
Wol Euler: man, those are big feet
Alessa Tzal: Arr they be boomers
Alessa Tzal: ^.^
Wol Euler: mostly good, with flashes of awful still
Wol Euler: and you?

--BELL--

Alessa Tzal: I'm always OK
Wol Euler: lucky :)
Alessa Tzal: Still furry I see
Alessa Tzal tugs your antlers
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Alessa Tzal: Oh Bryn has built something for a teepee...(?)
Wol Euler: yeah I keep meaning to go and see that
Alessa Tzal: Hm

Alessa Tzal: That bell still sounds like somebody dropping a pipe on the floor
Wol Euler: so find me a better one. please.
Alessa Tzal: I dunno anything about bells
Alessa Tzal: Where was Storm's from?
Wol Euler: dunno, never asked
Alessa Tzal: Shame
Wol Euler: ask him :)
Alessa Tzal: He's never around any more :(
Alessa Tzal: I hear his builds will be going too
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: there are negotiations going on to keep some of it
Alessa Tzal: Oh good
Alessa Tzal: I hope so
Wol Euler: me too

Alessa Tzal: Mieum was starting to look repopulated again
Alessa Tzal: And a lot of Rieul too
Alessa Tzal: A friend of mine built a little place there
Wol Euler: oh?
Alessa Tzal: Mm, not far from the old pavilion
Wol Euler points to the recorder.
Alessa Tzal: Hello recorder
Alessa Tzal: Do you remember Dr Who's recorder?
Alessa Tzal: When he was Patrick Troughton?
Alessa Tzal: He used to play it all the time, then swapped it for a sonic screwdriver
Wol Euler: nope :) sorry
Wol Euler: I never got on with the Dr.
Alessa Tzal: Aww
Wol Euler: just didn't get it.
Alessa Tzal: You have to get something to enjoy it?
Wol Euler: okay, I wasn't able to enjoy it
Alessa Tzal: Aww
Alessa Tzal: Poor Wollie
Alessa Tzal: You missed out on a lot
Wol Euler: not just that :)

Alessa Tzal: Clang
Alessa Tzal nods
Wol Euler: so find me a better one :)
Alessa Tzal: A better life?
Wol Euler: bell
Alessa Tzal: Ah

--BELL--

Alessa Tzal: OK I'll look into it
Alessa Tzal: You do have more important things agreed
Wol Euler: I'm not the one who dislikes the bell sound
Wol Euler: :-P
Wol Euler: Berti was asking about a mutual friend of ours who hasn't been at his sessions for a while now
Alessa Tzal: Oh yeh she keeps forgetting
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: I hope she knows it's now at noon on sundays ...
Wol Euler: still at PP
Alessa Tzal: Trouble is he moved it back two hours and it's not so easy to remember now
Alessa Tzal: Too early
Wol Euler: ah

Alessa Tzal: Is this EU thing going to affect you?
Wol Euler: dunno
Wol Euler: nobody knows
Wol Euler: Euros in UK are safe, thanks to Parliament
Wol Euler: no such ruling here (yet)
Alessa Tzal: I mean does it impact on your being in Germany?
Wol Euler: thats what I mean too :)
Alessa Tzal: Oh right
Wol Euler: in theory it does impact it, perhaps there will be allowances made
Wol Euler: nobody knows (yet)

Wol Euler: I've been here 22 years, so it should be possible t apply for citizenship, but I would not do that if I had to give up Canadian c'ship to get it
Alessa Tzal: I suppose it will take a while for the difference to make itself felt
Alessa Tzal nods
Alessa Tzal: Well as long as you're safe FTTB
Wol Euler: going to be an awfully messy few years, I fear
Wol Euler: I'm not going t ask which way you voted :)
Alessa Tzal: They do 'messy' well here
Wol Euler: yup
Alessa Tzal: I didn't
Wol Euler: aha
Alessa Tzal: Didn't actually have time
Wol Euler: wow
Alessa Tzal: Well by the time I got back it was shut
Alessa Tzal: Doubtless you know the feeling :p
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Wol Euler smiles.

Alessa Tzal: Is that necklace intended to be an inverse pentagram BTW, or is it an accident?
Wol Euler: knowing the designer, I'm sure it is intentional
Alessa Tzal: Hehe
Alessa Tzal: Nice
Alessa Tzal: So Jordan's gone from SL permanently now then?
Wol Euler: so it seems
Wol Euler: from FB too
Wol Euler: given up on music ... which is really sad
Alessa Tzal: Not an easy way to make a living I guess
Alessa Tzal: Musicians seem to be ivariably very rich or very poor

--BELL--

Alessa Tzal: +n
Wol Euler nods.
Alessa Tzal: Toilet
Wol Euler: I hoped the internets would change that, by making distribution instant, worldwide and free
Wol Euler: but it seems also to have reduced the price of music to zero.
Wol Euler: *expected price
Alessa Tzal: Back
Alessa Tzal: Yeh

Alessa Tzal: How are things in the office these days?
Wol Euler: tricky. trying to win competitoins
Wol Euler: we have one smallish job, which will keep us for a year
Wol Euler: but we need to find a bigger job
Wol Euler: at least one
Alessa Tzal: 'We gotta do a big job lads, know what I mean?'
Wol Euler snorts.
Wol Euler: I feared as I wrote it that I was setting myself up fort hat
Alessa Tzal: Hehehe
Alessa Tzal: Innit

Alessa Tzal: Silly question maybe, but have you ever thought of going home?
Wol Euler: every once in a while, yes
Wol Euler: but I'll be sixty in two years
Wol Euler: that's a bit late to be looking for a job
Wol Euler: I think I've missed the chance for going back to work
Wol Euler: and I can't afford to go back to retire
Wol Euler: I'm happy enough here. I could imagine moving back if the Brexit exploded my current life
Wol Euler: but not otherwise, unless I won the lottery - or Mom needed help

Alessa Tzal: Is there an 'official' retirement age there?
Wol Euler: it's up for debate at the moment, extending working years. But there is no limit for self-employed people in any case
Alessa Tzal: Ah OK
Wol Euler: I believe the limit is currently 67 for employees and bureaucrats
Alessa Tzal: Right
Wol Euler: at the same time, the birthrate is declining and jobs are open waiting for applicants
Wol Euler: seems an easy fix to me ...
Alessa Tzal: Exactly
Alessa Tzal: For someone with plenty of experience
Wol Euler: though as people point out, it isn't one-size-fits-all
Alessa Tzal: True
Wol Euler: ditchdiggers are not going to be working at age 70
Alessa Tzal: Right
Alessa Tzal: And it's tough at that age to re-educate
Wol Euler: I'm lucky that architecture is clean and light work
Alessa Tzal: :p
Wol Euler: the heaviest thing we have to lift is our own tender documents
Wol Euler: which can be heavy enough
Wol Euler: 3 inches thick is not unheard of
Alessa Tzal: 'Love me tender'
Wol Euler: even on our simple jobs

Alessa Tzal: The 'paperless age' eh?
Wol Euler: exactly
Wol Euler: it takes two reams of paper to produce each one
Wol Euler: counting corrections and reprints
Alessa Tzal: And tilers going on Hajj
Wol Euler: no that comes after :)

--BELL--

Alessa Tzal: 8X
Alessa Tzal: That was so funny
Wol Euler: in retrospect, yes :)
Wol Euler: we were not amused at the time
Alessa Tzal: I can imagine
Wol Euler: I found the client's letter of recommendation the other day, while applying for another competition, and was reminded that despite all that crap we finished on time and only 1.8% over budget.
Wol Euler: which is pretty goddamned good.
Alessa Tzal: Absolutely amazing in fact
Wol Euler: yup
Wol Euler is proud.
Alessa Tzal pats you on the back
Wol Euler beams.

Alessa Tzal: Did they computer thing you were doing on the side never pan out?
Alessa Tzal: that*
Wol Euler: the translations? no
Alessa Tzal: Aww
Wol Euler: they decided contracting me was too expensive, and offered me a fulltime job on site
Wol Euler: way up north
Wol Euler: and as I was about to cancel my lease here the boss called up and said "oops, I don't have a budget for you here, sorry"
Wol Euler: so fuck that
Alessa Tzal: Oh yes, now I remember
Wol Euler: I was pretty pissed off about that
Alessa Tzal: It was in U's blog
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Alessa Tzal: So if you had left, you'd have been in the crap
Wol Euler: right
Wol Euler: now, I could have sued and won, it was a clear case of negligence and false promises
Wol Euler: but still
Alessa Tzal: Would haven taken time
Wol Euler: they didn't even suggest going back to contract work, which I found odd but didn't care enough to pursue
Wol Euler: it was easy work and good money
Alessa Tzal: Guilty conscience maybe
Wol Euler: I hope so!
Wol Euler grins.
Alessa Tzal: Something business people tend not to have alas
Wol Euler: rich ones certainly not
Wol Euler: or only a tiny minority
Wol Euler: else they would not accept getting paid a thousand times the annual salary of their employees
Alessa Tzal: Indeed
Wol Euler: (I refuse to use the word "earn" in this context, nobody _earns_ that much money, though some are paid it.)
Alessa Tzal: True
Wol Euler: ah me, such a life
Wol Euler: and then you die
Wol Euler: and all that's left is a cardboard box

Wol Euler: I took a camera with me when we went to view my father before cremation
Wol Euler: thinking that someone might want a last photo
Wol Euler: but couldn't do it
Alessa Tzal: ♥
Wol Euler: didn't even consider taking out the camera

--BELL--

Wol Euler: I couldn't photograph that obscenity, that abomination, that mockery of what he had been
Alessa Tzal: Cardboard box?
Wol Euler: he was in one
Alessa Tzal: Good grief
Wol Euler: no sense spending 3000 C$ on a coffin that lasts a day
Wol Euler: no, I agreed
Wol Euler: not if only we three would see it
Wol Euler: but still, a cardboard box with the lid resting half on it
Wol Euler: was somehow less than appropriate
Wol Euler: they could at least have put the lid aside and draped a cloth over his lower half, or something

Wol Euler: I'm laughing but I feel like crying
Wol Euler: never talked about this
Alessa Tzal nods
Alessa Tzal: Life can be pretty hilarious
Wol Euler: yeah, you have to be willing to laugh at it
Wol Euler: like his interment being rained out :)
Alessa Tzal: Or, as Hawkeye said, you'll scream
Wol Euler: and holding the "graveside service" in my aunt's party room
Wol Euler: yup
Alessa Tzal: God, sounds more like you were at a barbecue than a funeral
Wol Euler: there's an army saying to help soldiers deal with officers who are arseholes: "respect the rank not the man"
Alessa Tzal: HA
Wol Euler: I felt the opposite of that at the service, the minister was marvellous. I had the greatest respect and admiration for her, while continuing to have no iterest in her religion.
Alessa Tzal: Mm
Alessa Tzal: Understood
Alessa Tzal: Kafka is alive and well it seems
Wol Euler: more so than ever

Alessa Tzal: How are the rest of the family doing?
Wol Euler: I don't know.
Wol Euler: mom is unusually quiet on FB and email
Wol Euler: my sister was always quiet (media-quiet)
Alessa Tzal: Good job you have SL eh
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Wol Euler: and WoW
Alessa Tzal: Oh, right
Wol Euler: I will be bereft when that eventually closes
Alessa Tzal: Is it closing?
Wol Euler: and this
Wol Euler: who knows
Alessa Tzal: Well worry when it happens then
Wol Euler: will it exist in 200 years? almost certainly not. therefore it will probably close
Wol Euler: oh indeed
Wol Euler: I just like to prepare myself for worrying :)

Alessa Tzal: Funny, you didn't get Dr Who and i don't get WoW
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: you say potato and I say potato
Alessa Tzal: In Japanese

--BELL--

Wol Euler: all that I remember of Dr Who was the daleks
Alessa Tzal: Extermin8!
Wol Euler: conquering the world when all you had to do to stop them was put a two-inch barrier across the floor
Alessa Tzal: Or stairs
Wol Euler: even as a small child I sneered at that
Alessa Tzal: Well they were originally only intended to live in their city, not outside
Alessa Tzal: And even then could only be powered through the floor
Wol Euler smiles.
Alessa Tzal: As they evolved, terry Nation had to fiddle the storyline to get them out of the closet STS
Alessa Tzal: It's very similar to the Marvel characters
Wol Euler: sure
Wol Euler: plot holes everywhere, like a bloody fishnet
Alessa Tzal: Their storylines eventually got so convoluted that they ended up being self-contradictory in amany cases
Alessa Tzal: This is what happens when you have a lot of diffrenet people throwing ideas into the pool :p
Alessa Tzal: As Peter Gabriel once famously remarked 'There's a good reason why books aren't written by a committee'
Wol Euler nods.

Alessa Tzal: Working today?
Wol Euler: no
Alessa Tzal: Oh yay
Wol Euler: unless you count naps or laundry?
Alessa Tzal: Well laundry certainly
Alessa Tzal: Which reminds me...
Alessa Tzal: But I'm glad you're getting some sleep
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: take care, dear Alessa
Alessa Tzal: TC babe
Wol Euler: and do remind our friend about Berti
Alessa Tzal: Stay horny
Wol Euler: I shall do my best
Alessa Tzal: Yes, she might be there tonight
Wol Euler: yay
Wol Euler: bye for now
Alessa Tzal: Schlaf gut ♥
Wol Euler: dir auch!