Rolf's story

This is Rolf as a young rat. He has prominence today because he's very ill and I don't think he has long. He still managed to let me know he'd like to sleep inside my hoodie, which he's doing right now. Rolf arrived with five other rats, including his brother Jonas, on Christmas Eve 2010. The circumstances were traumatic: A dog had killed some of the other rats at their carer's house and she was unable to face keeping these guys, so I said I'd take them.

Before their rescue, they'd been abandoned at a rental property and found by the landlord, along with eight other rats and several cats. To his credit, he caught the cats and took them home and passed the rats on to Perth Rat Rescue.

At the time, Rolf was boss rat or at least had ambitions in that direction, following the neutering of two of the others for aggression! He liked to sit on top of the cage and survey everything below him, including the odd human. He's now one of the last two survivors of the group, a fairly elderly gent at about 2 yrs, 4 months of age.

Conflux con report part 1

Today may be a day for waffling. I'm staying home to keep an eye on a sick rat (am on leave anyway) and focusing my mind proves difficult. I woke up early, thanks to the steady KERFLUMP! of a very small mouse inside the humane trap, indicating its displeasure. I had to carry the occupant outside and tip him over the back fence. As a result, this feels much later than usual.

It's a chilly morning, reminiscent of Canberra but without the sharpness to it. Canberra had plenty of sun, except for the Friday, where it bucketed all day, but no heat to it.

So, my trip: I arrived in Canberra on the Thursday night, too late to do anything but crash, and went to the War Memorial museum on the aforesaid Friday. The museum is huge and quite overwhelming with military history. I went on a two-hour tour but we only managed to cover up to the First World War, so I went through the galleries for the Second and up to the present day on my own before fatigue caught up with me. Several years before, when I last went to Canberra, I'd visited the museum as part of a general Canberra tour and they hauled us away far too early, so I determined then that I'd do it properly on my next visit. I think I have!

Friday night, caught up with ariaflame whose travels had brought her to Canberra in time for Conflux. We went forth in search of food and ended up at a very nice Thai place, after a false alarm at a restaurant which insisted you spent $35 apiece minimum. Maybe it's because I don't get out much, but I've never heard of this, and I've been to a few good restaurants. All that time at the War Memorial with the crowds and intensity had given me a headache, so I returned early to my hotel with some of the good drugs.

Conflux itself began on the Saturday morning. It's a short con, only the two days and with no evening events. It is devoted primarily to sf literature and writers, with some focus on media but not, to my perception, a great deal of it. No gaming stream. My personal panic began early, as my first panel was right at the start, one of the three-strand program. This was What makes a good fantasy/sf/horror story? and I'm left with doubts that I managed to say anything useful. I didn't use my notes at all, since the panel veered right away from where I had expected it to go, but that's okay, they were only there in the event of brain-freezure anyway. The panel was opposite Jack Dann's Evil Overlord panel, where he and his minions discuss the execution of the human race. There was no way we could compete with that!

I was able to relax and attend other panels for the rest of the time until my stint as Author in Residence and after that, part of the Zombie Apocalypse panel with Cat Sparks and Simon Petrie, where we basically informed the audience that unless they sat in their bunkers for a month before trying to survive outside, they were screwed. Somewhere inbetween these events, I attended the introduction of Theatre of the Dead an indie zombie film set in Canberra. I mean, it's an indie film set in Canberra, they weren't indie zombies. Can't wait to see it!

Another panel I got to was Trends in apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic writing which was extremely entertaining, particularly for Gillian Polack's rendition of a medieval Latin song which translated roughly as, "Jesus is coming, watch out, virgins!" This doesn't mean precisely what you may think it means. It may be said that my education was increased after this panel.

There was a fantastic catered lunch on Saturday, where I got my major nutrition for the entire holiday. For the rest of the time, I could feel scurvy coming on due to the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables I was getting. I believe there was some inside the several McDonalds burgers I ate, but this has not been scientifically proven. At the lunch was a competition for best 50s costume and since I was wearing my black stripe fedora hat, waistcoat, black trousers and steampunk tie, together with long-sleeved purple shirt, I got to enter. :-) The comp was justly won by one John "Chops", in his snazzy gray suit and hat. Very stylish.

Tomorrow I will cover the Sunday at the con and the Monday, of Floriade and much wandering in the city.