We need to play together more

A board game session together can reveal a lot about a group's characteristics. So, after several rounds of Saboteur and a bit of Taboo with the cellies, here are my pseudo psycho-observations:

(1) We talk about work too much. Someone suggested that we ban that topic for the rest of the night after our pizza dinner featured work-centered conversations. I think it's a good idea to continue with it, or all we'll ever know about each other are our work stories.

(2) Our group has trust issues. We're a conservative, guarded bunch. Bring on a game of that requires instinctive alliances and covert manipulation and watch the groping-in-the-dark responses that emerge because no one wants to take the initial risk of sharing information first.

(3) I rediscovered my competitive streak and dislike for rogue players. Thinking about it, I remember getting upset with Liz cos she wouldn't play Risk properly AT ALL, and in high school Vic and I were thunderously pissed when the boys (unfairly, in our eyes) ganged up against us.

(4) Taboo is the acid test of whether a group has gelled together. The fact that we haven't clicked together enough to share references and thought-patterns became obvious after a few rounds.

Unequally yoked

It's frustrating when commitments and priorities clash. I'm just going to have to get used to it.

The last week. Briefly.

Wednesday:
the hotel room is booked. Our first ever sibling retreat this Sun-Mon in Availion, Port Dickson is really happening.

Thursday:
as Fergus prepares to go off for shooting for 9 consecutive days I realise that I mind his coming absence. It takes some working through.

Friday:
I suddenly decided to join the Fantasy Football league after adamantly refusing for months. Fatal weakness on the last day, but Fergus is delighted.

Saturday:
shooting for Shoebox Tales and the 2008/09 EPL season begins! It is a light first day; shooting wraps at 5 and we watch the match together.

Sunday:
we only manage to finish packing and leave the house for PD at 2 in the arvo. In the end, our parents and David drove up for dinner and we watched the single men's badminton final together. Obviously there are separation issues.

Monday:
it's Liz's birthday. We came back from PD and visited Charles and Keith in The Pavilion. That night there was a family row that turned into a very introspective examination of our family members.

Tuesday:
Fergus was unable to be reached on set and we had a funeral to attend that night. I was upset even though I knew it was not his fault. Another one to work through.

Wednesday:
I decided to start doing a major rearrangement of my room furniture. Shooting ends at 10 and I finally see Fergus for the first time since Saturday. We arrived late for the funeral at 11:30 and left at 1, but it wasn't exhausting.

Found

On the bottom shelf of the most unlikely place, Jaya Grocer, after M&S, Ikea and Cold Storage Ikano drew blanks. Bassett's Allsorts with its Bertie Bassett mascot, trumps Pascal's Allsorts. Too bad I ate the superior bag first.

INFObit: The figure made out of liquorice allsorts pieces (click on the Bassett's link to see) is called Bertie Bassett, and he's the popular company mascot. The picture above shows a mix that includes a sweet shaped like him. Sadly, the mix I had didn't have it or the round pieces.

Note: this follow-up post should have been up last Wednesday, but ah well.

Black heaven

So The Geek came back from Sydney and bought a few bags of candy for the team. One of the bags had jelly beans. And one of the jelly bean flavours was liquorice. And when I ate it, I was immediately certain that it was the best thing I have ever put into my mouth.

Now that tar-like concoction is divisive. It provokes, no, demands that a stand be made. Rarely are there cross-overs between the two camps. Heather and Jon Armstrong both wrote about that here and here.

For me, I tried liquorice candy as a child and hated it, so I'm not sure what caused that change. But I have been thinking the whole day about the lovely, tangy sensation from that one black bean I had. I've googled images of liquorice jellybeans to look at. And once I get off work (in approximately 10 minutes once I'm done posting this), I am scurrying as fast as I can to Ikea or M&S to look for a bag of them heavenly tar bits.