-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
AusGAF 7 - We hang out IRL now and be social and shit. (Also, Adrian's Revenge)
- Thread starter HolyCheck
- Start date
- Status
A story.
Prior to mobilising for Africa two weeks ago, I met one of my cousins for the first time ever.
Back in 2008, when I was still at UQ doing a PhD, my family was contacted by a woman searching for information on her grandfather. She had nothing more than his first name, which she found on a document begrudgingly handed over by a member of her family. A google search put her in contact with my siblings, as my brother had listed the name of our recently deceased grandfather as a 'hero' on his Myspace page.
Our grandfather flew flying boats in World War 2 and served in both hemispheres. My family since learned that he had a tryst with a South African woman and fathered a son in Johannesburg prior to ever meeting my grandmother . He returned to Australia not long after the war and refused all contact with the woman and infant son, yet his name was retained on all documentation. This son of his grew up in South Africa before moving to Australia for security reasons and started a family there and never made any effort to reconnect with his biological father whom he never met.
My grandfather died several years ago from skin cancer as a result of sun exposure from extensive hours in flight. The war killed him, its just took 60 years.
My family was initially sceptical of this woman and her claims. A few facts connected up, so we indulged her correspondence and learned more facts that matched up with what we knew about Grandpa. The shocker came when we received photos of her family. My grandfather's never-mentioned first son (my uncle) was damn near identical to his father. He looked more like Grandpa than any of my aunts or uncles. That photo alone stirred up a strong emotional response given his recent death.
Meetings were arranged, Barbecues were had, drinks were shared and tears were shed. This lost uncle of mine felt resentment towards my grandfather, given Grandpa's stonewalling of all communication attempts with him and his mother. It's a bizarre situation - here was a family with whom we shared DNA, but never knew. They were intelligent friendly people and we had loads in common. Even though they were both in Australia at the same time for many years, my uncle never met my grandfather and missed out by only a few years.
So, a few months back I learnt that my cousin (whom initiated the family search and I hadn't yet met) was on tour in Europe with her husband. I caught up with them for a quick ale in London before they went out on their own, so I only had a few hours to get to know them. It's a tricky situation to approach - these people physically look like us but we knew very little about each other.
I'd only just returned from a field trip looking at the Jurassic outcrops along the Bristol channel the day before. I had 24 hours to tidy myself up and pack for the trip to Africa, as well as have lunch with a friend from Trinidad who was in the UK for work. It'll be years until I see him again so despite having a bunch of shit to pack, meeting him was a priority.
As such, I didn't have much time to compute the meeting with my lost cousin and will endeavour to follow them up soon. Of course, I'll never get to know them as well as my cousins I grew up with, but at least there's another bunch of people to have a beer with next time I'm in Adelaide.
A moment of poignancy: I recall the exact time my cousin contacted me 4 years ago. After growing disenchanted with my PhD and academia, I had decided to quit. It was the most difficult decision I'd ever made as I'd worked for years to get to my goal of being a palaeontologist; there were high expectations from a range of different parties (two universities, the Qld Museum; several third-party laboratories); I was on an expensive and prestigious scholarship; and I had nothing else to fall back on and (despite a good education) was staring at the void of unemployment. AusGAF was a thing I posted on at that time, and I don't recall if I shared any of this.
Yesterday, I stood on the helipad of a >USD$1mill/day drill rig and watched flying fish jump in and out of the Indian Ocean as the sun set over the east coast of Africa.
The time-markers of: a) receiving correspondence from my cousin for the first time; and b) finally meeting her in person are essentially the bookends for a very tumultuous period of my professional life. Quitting my childhood dream of becoming Alan Grant was painful, but I think I made the right decision.
tl;dr: Grandpa got around.
Prior to mobilising for Africa two weeks ago, I met one of my cousins for the first time ever.
Back in 2008, when I was still at UQ doing a PhD, my family was contacted by a woman searching for information on her grandfather. She had nothing more than his first name, which she found on a document begrudgingly handed over by a member of her family. A google search put her in contact with my siblings, as my brother had listed the name of our recently deceased grandfather as a 'hero' on his Myspace page.
Our grandfather flew flying boats in World War 2 and served in both hemispheres. My family since learned that he had a tryst with a South African woman and fathered a son in Johannesburg prior to ever meeting my grandmother . He returned to Australia not long after the war and refused all contact with the woman and infant son, yet his name was retained on all documentation. This son of his grew up in South Africa before moving to Australia for security reasons and started a family there and never made any effort to reconnect with his biological father whom he never met.
My grandfather died several years ago from skin cancer as a result of sun exposure from extensive hours in flight. The war killed him, its just took 60 years.
My family was initially sceptical of this woman and her claims. A few facts connected up, so we indulged her correspondence and learned more facts that matched up with what we knew about Grandpa. The shocker came when we received photos of her family. My grandfather's never-mentioned first son (my uncle) was damn near identical to his father. He looked more like Grandpa than any of my aunts or uncles. That photo alone stirred up a strong emotional response given his recent death.
Meetings were arranged, Barbecues were had, drinks were shared and tears were shed. This lost uncle of mine felt resentment towards my grandfather, given Grandpa's stonewalling of all communication attempts with him and his mother. It's a bizarre situation - here was a family with whom we shared DNA, but never knew. They were intelligent friendly people and we had loads in common. Even though they were both in Australia at the same time for many years, my uncle never met my grandfather and missed out by only a few years.
So, a few months back I learnt that my cousin (whom initiated the family search and I hadn't yet met) was on tour in Europe with her husband. I caught up with them for a quick ale in London before they went out on their own, so I only had a few hours to get to know them. It's a tricky situation to approach - these people physically look like us but we knew very little about each other.
I'd only just returned from a field trip looking at the Jurassic outcrops along the Bristol channel the day before. I had 24 hours to tidy myself up and pack for the trip to Africa, as well as have lunch with a friend from Trinidad who was in the UK for work. It'll be years until I see him again so despite having a bunch of shit to pack, meeting him was a priority.
As such, I didn't have much time to compute the meeting with my lost cousin and will endeavour to follow them up soon. Of course, I'll never get to know them as well as my cousins I grew up with, but at least there's another bunch of people to have a beer with next time I'm in Adelaide.
A moment of poignancy: I recall the exact time my cousin contacted me 4 years ago. After growing disenchanted with my PhD and academia, I had decided to quit. It was the most difficult decision I'd ever made as I'd worked for years to get to my goal of being a palaeontologist; there were high expectations from a range of different parties (two universities, the Qld Museum; several third-party laboratories); I was on an expensive and prestigious scholarship; and I had nothing else to fall back on and (despite a good education) was staring at the void of unemployment. AusGAF was a thing I posted on at that time, and I don't recall if I shared any of this.
Yesterday, I stood on the helipad of a >USD$1mill/day drill rig and watched flying fish jump in and out of the Indian Ocean as the sun set over the east coast of Africa.
The time-markers of: a) receiving correspondence from my cousin for the first time; and b) finally meeting her in person are essentially the bookends for a very tumultuous period of my professional life. Quitting my childhood dream of becoming Alan Grant was painful, but I think I made the right decision.
tl;dr: Grandpa got around.
reptilescorpio
Member
Can we has pic of Grandpa in a pimping cool suit?
This is the man who said we should put a price on carbon.
Why the hell was Markot banned? Can't find anything offending where he didn't keep contributing to the thread. If it was the Linux thing then it would seem a mod is a bit touchy about anything negative during Linux discussions...
No matter. He will just say he never said it and people will believe him. Or maybe he is just throwing the bait out there to see if the fish bite and think it is a good stance.
This is the man who said we should put a price on carbon.
Special Two - Missy Higgins. Lulz.About to start DJIng for the wedding. Any requests?
reptilescorpio
Member
More time for Omi to finish Big Picture Mode Steam for us! I'll PM the relevant authorities.
If you can get into the AusGAF IRC I suggest you do so. Choc's been raging away for more than half an hour.
It's so good.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
All my grandpa ever did was be racist toward Anglo-Australians, spit epic lurgies and refuse to wear a shirt like Mark Walburg's character in Date Night, only with gross old manboobs instead of pecs.
He was a guard in a Latin American prison for a while. Apparently he saw some shit he had no choice but turn a blind eye to.
My grandmother caught him cheating once by surprise visiting him in the town he was working at only to find another woman living in the place he was staying. From what I can gather, this woman didn't know he was married.
So yeah, my grandfather got around too, as did my father, but that kind of thing is common in Latin America and sort of encouraged by the macho culture they have over there.
He was a guard in a Latin American prison for a while. Apparently he saw some shit he had no choice but turn a blind eye to.
My grandmother caught him cheating once by surprise visiting him in the town he was working at only to find another woman living in the place he was staying. From what I can gather, this woman didn't know he was married.
So yeah, my grandfather got around too, as did my father, but that kind of thing is common in Latin America and sort of encouraged by the macho culture they have over there.
Please save the chat log.
Please tell me he shares your last name. That would help add to pre-held stereotypes I've come up with based merely on your last name and heritage.
The moment I realized that old people were young once and quite enjoyed sex was during a scene towards the end of Saving Private Ryan where the troops are shooting shit and talking about boobs before the attack on Ramelle.
bodyboarder
Member
Yep. I've been watching a few of the fighting comp streams as of late.
Also anyone seen Xbox points cards cheap anywhere locally?
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
Haha! He was my maternal grandfather, so while I do share part of his surname, I didn't get Mendoza from him.
The Spanish surname system is a lot more... complicated than the English one. Everyone has at least two and the rules get complicated and arcane when it comes time for marriage and kids. My wife took on my surname, when technically, she should only have appended "de Mendoza" to the end of hers.
To be fair though, my grandfather freaking loved mariachi music and had a wicked moustache.
Having BrisGAF 1 under the banner of a Colombian drug lord is a happy memory.
codswallop
Member
Work with a Sri Lankan guy. Has his family name at both the start and end of his name, though his Anglicised name doesn't, of course. He can't really explain why they do it though. May or may not be related to the Portuguese rule, as his name also contains 'don'.
shanshan310
Member
Kritz's wedding feast sounds amazing.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
My namesake's a Chilean war criminal, not a Colombian drug lord. Geez, racist much?
The confit dick and no men breast does sound appetizing.
shanshan310
Member
If the title says what I think it does I don't think you're allowed to try that one.
Origami Superman
Member
Next dish is chicken and popcorn. Together at last!
Hang on, which group invented dumplings?My namesake's a Chilean war criminal, not a Colombian drug lord. Geez, racist much?
-
Nintendo's 3DSXL looks like the gaming device of choice for me. My 3DS doesn't really get played on the go, but I'm largely limited to handheld gaming given my frequent traveller status. The current 3DS has a clunky form factor and I will gladly welcome a larger screen at the cost of chunkier pictures.
In typical Nintendo fashion, they came close to doing something clever and using the chance to add a second analog pad but didn't. There aren't too many titles with CPP support that I'm lusting for so I'm not too annoyed by the absence of a second pad.
The biggest missed opportunity as i see it is not putting a GBA slot back into it. It's a bigger device and the real estate is there. Their current support for back catalogue titles on the eShop isn't great, and given their track record with the Wii's Virtual Console, it's doubtful it will improve. A GBA slot that supported every gameboy/GBC/GBA title (region free of course) would be an absolute wet dream.
My idealized, borderline fanboy Nintendo device is a 3DSXL with built-in analog stick and hardware support for every handheld Nintendo game ever published, anywhere. It's nice to want things.
The Amazing Spiderman was okay.. loved the two leads and the action. But the script had way to many eye-rolling moments. The foundation they laid down here, really leads itself to having a lot of potential for the sequels though. Let's hope they can do that with a better script next time.
On the other hand I bought Theatrhythm today at EB. And this shit is hot.
On the other hand I bought Theatrhythm today at EB. And this shit is hot.
Making digital copies of legacy handheld titles and conditioning them for the eShop has got to be a week's worth of work at most. If Nintendo supported it properly, a cart slot wouldn't be necessary. Also, smartphone/tablet gaming has spoiled gamers and cartridges on a portable device is starting to look archaic.
bodyboarder
Member
Thanks, its now $45, but cheap enough anyway.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
There's pretty much no reason a portable device shouldn't have the option for purely digital distribution and storage of software. Nintendo's silliness of being so late to the game is just another example of their tendency for archaic business models.
Anyway, I got Theatrythm today, and I don't even like Final Fantasy all that much. But the music is good, and the gameplay is cool. Yay.
Anyway, I got Theatrythm today, and I don't even like Final Fantasy all that much. But the music is good, and the gameplay is cool. Yay.
A long time ago I wrote a short thing on a different board, Australian Gamer I think, that Nintendo doesn't do these things because a) they don't need to and can save money (GameCube was profitable); and because b) pokemons.
-
I'm a North American 3DS owner living in the UK. There are no Gametraders-like parallel import retail stores and I'm limited to Play-Asia and eBay, both of which attract an import tax from the Royal Mail. Brings the prices up to Aussie prices and I'm reluctant to expand my 3DS library whilst on my expat.
Is Theatryththm worth paying the stupid irrelevant Queen her stupid gumby import tax?
reptilescorpio
Member
Yep, the game is awesome. I've only played 2 hours and I'm loving it. The FF nostalgia is hitting me hard.
bodyboarder
Member
Oh damn, it is the PSN cards that are 2 $30 cards for $50
As it happens I need that as well.
bodyboarder
Member
Problem solved.
reptilescorpio
Member
Yep. Order some fancy scotch and chat them up while they are bored watching a woman's happiest day of her life. Sure fire way to get them talking.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
- Locked