Everything went wrong at the beginning of this month. I had a bright glittering future ahead of me, or rather I had some plans for a jolly good night. Friends, wine, Stargate season finale. Life couldn't get any better. But it could get worse. At around 3am on the morning of the big day, I was in the loo throwing up. Another tummy bug. Darn those Ori Priors. They've already visited this part of South East London this year, did they have to come again? They've moved on to Bradford now, in the North of England. Over half the schools closed thanks to the vomiting plague.

Instead, we postponed the night. Although most of us had seen it already, not all those who come along to the Stargate nights have Sky. It was still a lot of fun, with a lot of wine and a lot of chocolate and a lot of giggling. At the end though, I felt rather like Sam. Tiny, vulnerable, left floating out in the big vast vacuum of space. I've enjoyed Season 9, but will I enjoy season 10? I didn't enjoy much of Season 7, and Season 8 left me cold. I don't want another disappointment.

This Tuesday just gone was our first Tuesday meetup without any Stargate to bind us together. We intended to go to the movies, but that fell through and we spend a very enjoyable time in a fantastic Italian restaurant that is just far enough off Liecester Square to not be full of tourists. I'd love to recommend it to everyone but then it wouldn't be a secret anymore :-)

The chap who sits next to me at work is something of a computer security guru. It is part of his job to keep well up to date with all sorts of security software, so he is often on the hunt to trap nasties in the wild and keep them on a virtual computer he's set up, in order to try these programs out on them. Great fun if you like that sort of thing. For me it means that I have developed an ability to not actually take in anything from the peripheral vision of my right eye - the right-hand side being where he sits. The images from the last time I accidently glimpsed something out of the corner of my eye are still burned on my brain - I had no idea anyone could possibly fit an entire hand into something that frankly wasn't a glove.

This is rather like my scanning-posts-spoiler-filter. Years of being a mod and trying to stay spoiler free means I've developed a pretty mean spoiler filter that allows me to scan through posts looking for rule breaking stuff without actually taking in anything I don't really want. Of course it isn't foolproof, which is why I've been completely avoiding the Season 9 folder since Friday. The finale doesn't screen in the UK until tommorrow, and I want to watch it completely 100 percent spoiler free. So far I'm succeeding.

There's a thread on Gateworld - What is your setup going to be tommorrow? - about what people will be doing to mark the finale. We will be having a party. There will be a group of us, no doubt talking or laughing at key moments, eating far too much chocolate and drinking more wine than is good for us. I'll be taking the afternoon off and the following morning. I am thoroughly looking forward to it.

Indeed it has been a Stargate week. Last Tuesday was a happy and a sad occasion. Happy because it was Ali's birthday (and since a lot of people couldn't make that one, we'll be giving her a second birthday tommorrow, and for those that can't make that there's a third one on Saturday, lucky Ali!) but also sad because it is the last time ever that we'll be doing a Stargate meetup at Sue's posh West Ken pad. I shall greatly miss the old fashioned walkup with its turn of the (20th) century tiles, and the strangly odd shaped landings. I shall also miss the weirdly long walk between the lounge and kitchen, a walk that gets longer and longer the more wine is drunk. She has a new posting, and won't be in London for the foreseeable future. Thank you so much Sue for all the wonderful times we've had at your place, the food, the chocolate, the letching.

I've a lot to thank Stargate for. If it hadn't been for the TV show I would never have known Mal and Earthgrazer, if I didn't know EG then I wouldn't have met Starz, and if it hadn't been for Mal coming down to London for the weekend, and all four of us heading off to Starz's extemely chic art deco apartment in Wimbledon I'd never have discovered the best ever Indian takeaway in the entire universe. K2. It has spoiled me. Just as I can now never eat salmon (after having freshly caught salmon in Campbell River, Victoria Island, Canada last year), I shall now never be able to eat Chicken Korma or Pilau Rice. Unless I manage to wrangle an invite back to Starz's. Or perhaps I could convince Mr G that it isn't really so far to go for a takeaway? It was the perfect end to a great day. Mal and I took a tour around the British Museum and this time I actually visited a section that wasn't anything to do with Egypt. And despite the weather forecast it hardly rained at all.

It's March. It is March. It is already March. Two months have already gone. Where? How? What is this joke played upon us that time speeds up as you get older?

I missed Stargate night with the girls - again. Poor little thing, Baby G is ill again this time with a streaming cold. And it sounds like it was a great night. Pancakes, as it was Shrove Tuesday, and something fun to do with tossing?! I barely got to see any of the episode itself, as Baby G was so fretful. It looked good the little I managed to see, so am looking forward to it.

Snow in London today, and lots of bright winter sunshine. It is very cold, but fresh. Loverly.

There's far too much fragmentation going on in the forum for me. I like to discuss episodes, that is what drew me online. I don't want to post opinions only in threads that are dedicated to that particular viewpoint. What I want to have, and read, are dissenting points of view, so I get a new insight into an episode I may not have thought of, and can have an adult, agreeable discussion agreeing with some, disagreeing with others. And all having a jolly nice cup of tea and cake in the Off Topic folder afterwards.

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