2016.12.03 01:00 - a bunch of gods

The Guardian for this meeting was Wol Euler.

Wol Euler: 'ellow darlin
Agatha Macbeth: Good moaning
Wol Euler: how's you?
Agatha Macbeth: Glad to see you back
Wol Euler: nice to be back! it felt like ages and ages
Agatha Macbeth: It did
Wol Euler: and in fact it was longer than any recent holiday absence
Agatha Macbeth: It certainly was quite a while
Wol Euler nods.
Agatha Macbeth: The orcs must have missed you
Wol Euler: sixteen days
Wol Euler: they did too, they all cheered when I returned

Agatha Macbeth: How did you cope?
Wol Euler: well, I read a lot
Agatha Macbeth: And slept presumably :p
Wol Euler: and it coincided with a rush at work so I wasn't home all that much anyway
Wol Euler: that too
Agatha Macbeth: Ah dear
Agatha Macbeth: These things eh
Wol Euler: yep
Agatha Macbeth: How's yer hooves
Wol Euler: wet
Agatha Macbeth: Hm
Wol Euler smiles.

Agatha Macbeth: I see we have the usual Saturday morning rush
Wol Euler: yeah, that may be due in part to me missing the last few
Wol Euler: though sunday is hardly more crowded these days
Wol Euler: even QT has missed a few
Agatha Macbeth: Does Qt never come now?
Agatha Macbeth: Yeh
Agatha Macbeth: Snap
Agatha Macbeth: Probably on his bike
Wol Euler: I hope so
Wol Euler: rather than in a hospital watching over somebody
Wol Euler: one never knows
Agatha Macbeth: Indeed
Wol Euler: *seldom

Wol Euler: read any good books lately?
Agatha Macbeth: I usually tend to read the old ones over and over
Wol Euler: heheh, me too
Wol Euler: but I do also read new ones
Wol Euler: I'm re-reading American Gods at the moment
Wol Euler: the expanded revised anniversary edition
Agatha Macbeth: Right
Agatha Macbeth: Who's in it?
Wol Euler: a bunch of gods
Agatha Macbeth: Yes but which ones?

--BELL--

Wol Euler: many dozens of them, literally
Agatha Macbeth: Not Zeus or YHWH presumably
Wol Euler: though the main god is appropriately Odin / Grimnir / Thor etc
Agatha Macbeth: Oh great
Wol Euler: it is
Wol Euler smiles.
Agatha Macbeth: Stormy would approve
Wol Euler: perhaps
Wol Euler: Gaiman's take on the gods is pretty much the same as the ancient Greeks'
Agatha Macbeth: When did Odin take out US citizenship then?
Wol Euler: he's not an American, he just happens to be there (in one instance of himself)
Agatha Macbeth: Ah
Wol Euler: though that particular point (instances) is only touched on once, in passing
Wol Euler: it could have been expanded to an interesting discussion, but this is a novel not a thesis
Agatha Macbeth: Is this fiction then?
Wol Euler looks at you curiously.
Wol Euler: yes. yes, it is
Agatha Macbeth: Ok
Wol Euler: oh I see
Wol Euler: sorry

Agatha Macbeth: Just thought it might have been some theological discussion
Wol Euler: right
Wol Euler: I twigged to that too late
Agatha Macbeth: Your antlers need tuning
Wol Euler: well then, let me strongly recommend this book to your earliest attention
Agatha Macbeth: Who's it by?
Wol Euler: Neil Gaiman, "American Gods", and be sure to get the new Author's Preferred Edition
Agatha Macbeth: Don't think I know him
Agatha Macbeth: Is he a friend of Walt Whitman?
Wol Euler: unlikely given that he was born a few decades after WW died
Wol Euler: I'm really surprised you don't know him, because he _is_ a friend of Terry Pratchett
Wol Euler: or was
Wol Euler: they co-wrote Good Omens

Agatha Macbeth: The central premise of the novel is that gods and mythological creatures exist because people believe in them according to Wiki
Wol Euler: true
Agatha Macbeth: Well I'd have thought that was self evident
Wol Euler: so if people believe in them while standing on a bit of land called "america" then the gods are there too
Agatha Macbeth: Makes sense
Wol Euler: these gods are like the greek, they exist in space and time
Agatha Macbeth: Geek?
Agatha Macbeth: Oh Greek
Wol Euler: freer to move than we are, obviously, but *here*
Agatha Macbeth: Right
Agatha Macbeth: Wonder if Trumpsie has read it
Wol Euler: and the question that launches the book is "what happens to an immortal being nourished by belief, when people stop believing?"
Agatha Macbeth: Gotcha

Wol Euler: trump has difficulty reading cereal boxes. too many words, he gets bored
Agatha Macbeth: Bet he likes the pictures
Wol Euler: "they aren't as good as my pictures. I have the best pictures. Really good pictures."
Wol Euler: like a four-year-old
Wol Euler: so fucking sad
Agatha Macbeth: Eat my Rembrandt
Agatha Macbeth: He and Prok should get together :p
Wol Euler: their heads would explode
Wol Euler: hey, good idea
Agatha Macbeth: :D

[some personal things edited]

Wol Euler: if I could be certain not to be working this afternoon, I'd go back to bed and do my shopping later
Agatha Macbeth: Aww
Agatha Macbeth: Wollie the master builder
Wol Euler: master cost calculator at the moment
Wol Euler: we are over budget
Agatha Macbeth: Erk
Wol Euler: the paradox being that we are paid a percentage of the building cost. So the harder we work to reduce the cost, the less we ear
Wol Euler: n
Agatha Macbeth: Make sure nobody goes on Hajj at the wrong moment
Wol Euler: right
Wol Euler: we put that in the contracts.

Agatha Macbeth: Wonder how Arch is?
Wol Euler: no idea, haven't seen or heard a word in ages and ages

--BELL--

Agatha Macbeth: Hope he's ok
Wol Euler: he unfriended me so I can't even check his profile
Agatha Macbeth: Oh dear
Wol Euler: (years ago, when he still came to PaB)
Agatha Macbeth: His profile's still up
Wol Euler: but if you aren't a friend it doesn't show last login date
Wol Euler: but the group does! last login 27 august of this year
Agatha Macbeth: I still see Fael of FB occasionally
Agatha Macbeth: on*
Wol Euler nods.
Agatha Macbeth: Yes Aug 27
Agatha Macbeth: So he's still around
Wol Euler nods.
Agatha Macbeth: Sorry I couldn't find you a better bell
Wol Euler: heheheheh
Wol Euler: you are the only one it bothers
Agatha Macbeth: They don't seem much in demand
Wol Euler sighs.
Wol Euler: I should get going, just in case.
Agatha Macbeth: Of fire?
Wol Euler: lovely to see you again, dear Aggers
Agatha Macbeth: You too babe
Wol Euler grins and fluffs your hair up
Agatha Macbeth: Yay
Wol Euler: just remembered that I had that
Wol Euler smiles.
Agatha Macbeth: I must pop into Frac again soon
Wol Euler: this evening, for example.
Wol Euler: just a thought,
Agatha Macbeth: Oh I'll see
Agatha Macbeth: They must have missed you
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: and I them