The Frying Pan

I am putting together a couple of magic tricks, and I've decided to use tarot cards as a gimmick. That's why tarot cards were on my mind the other day when we were playing trivia...

So I have these cards, but I got a deck that's all in French.

ElendilTheTall

Tarot cards are always a gimmick :)

Jolenealaska

So I'm working on being able to say the names of these cards in French without sounding like an idiot.

Nothing in this world makes me sound more Iowan than trying to wrap my tongue around French

ElendilTheTall

A tricky accent

Especially -re

Germanic throats are not made to say the French -re well

Jolenealaska

It doesn't help that it looks a lot like Spanish.

So I try to pronounce it that way.

ElendilTheTall

10:53 AM

I suppose so

A fair few ques

Jolenealaska

You don't even have to get that far. Le trips me up.

Did you see that video I posted for you about the pocket watch?

ElendilTheTall

I did

But I have a deep seated hatred for Patek Phillips thanks to their obnoxious ads

Jolenealaska

I have never seen one of the ads.

ElendilTheTall

Some asshole with his asshole son and the ridiculous slogan

"You never own a Patek Phillipe, you just look after it for the next generation"

Fuck alllll the way off

Oh! Have you seen the Pitch Meeting series on YouTube?

Jolenealaska

There's a new one with a Rolex some guy bought while in the army during Vietnam. He decided it was too nice to wear so he never wore it. It still had the sticker on the back. That was an antiques roadshow one too.

ElendilTheTall

11:00 AM

I've seen a few like that.

Jolenealaska

$400,000

ElendilTheTall

Nice

My wife's granny is 94. She has a Tiffany's ring the size of a hamsters head

All the ladies in the family eyeing that one up I can tell ya

Jolenealaska

I bet

My grandmother had a diamond necklace that I don't know what happened to.

I'm looking at pitch meeting now.

I watched the Game of thrones season 8 one.

Check out my GIF!

7

A: Hard boiled eggs in "insta-pot" type device

Pressure cooking is great for eggs. Once you've got your routine down, they'll be perfect every time and never crack. There are more ways to do it than there are cooks, but this works great for me. Of course, I'll give you baseline instructions in detail, but you may need to tweak the procedure t...

I am rather ridiculously proud of it.

ElendilTheTall

11:18 AM

I like the "check this shit out!" toss of the egg shell

Jolenealaska

Yes! :D

And I got it on the first take.

ElendilTheTall

A true pro

The Seinfeld pitch meeting is a good one

Jolenealaska

That must be it

ElendilTheTall

It confirms what I've always thought: that show is not funny

Jolenealaska

@ElendilTheTall I'll check it out.

ElendilTheTall

11:22 AM

I like Jerry's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee series

But I think Larry David's humour suits me better

We have similar grouch levels I think

Larry David's Steve Martin Tribute Speech

►

I laff

Jolenealaska

He's always pretty funny.

Do you have time for a board game?

John Oliver became a US citizen in December.

Once again I say thank you for him.

I'm a big fan.

ElendilTheTall

11:46 AM

Eh, he's ok

Gonna have lunch soon, maybe a game after?

Jolenealaska

yup

ElendilTheTall

Getting a new one today all being well :D

Jolenealaska

A new what?

ElendilTheTall

Board game

Teotihuacan

Jolenealaska

Is it related to the ancient city?

I've been there.

ElendilTheTall

11:52 AM

It is

A fairly heavy Euro worker placement game about building a temple

Jolenealaska

hmm

Can I lay something on you that's a bit heavy?

I'm dealing with something kind of scary.

ElendilTheTall

Sure

Jolenealaska

MS has taken a fairly large chunk of my intellect. It's quantifiable, and it's gone.

ElendilTheTall

By intellect you mean 'processing power' as it were?

Jolenealaska

Yep

ElendilTheTall

12:02 PM

And it's ongoing?

Jolenealaska

Yep. MS defies extrapolation, but this is definitely a progressive thing.

I can actually pin down the date that I first really started to see it by something I said in chat.

It was the first time that I really noticed something being hard for me that simply shouldn't have been.

ElendilTheTall

Give me an example?

Jolenealaska

The line was "Right now I'm getting my ass kicked by a tripod"

I saw a neuropsychiatrist about it a couple of months ago. He gave me an abbreviated IQ test.

You know that thing with blocks that are half red half white and you make shapes with them?

ElendilTheTall

Can't say I do, but go on

Jolenealaska

It's a particular spatial relationship thing. It's a part of the most commonly used IQ test. The same test that led to me being at NSA. They wanted me because of my ability to do certain things. That was one of them.

I was so bad at it when I was tested by the neuropsychiatrist that he didn't even feel the need to let me finish.

Word finding has become really challenging verbally, although I seem to do fine still writing.

I don't play Scrabble against the same AIs I used to play against because it breaks my heart.

ElendilTheTall

12:15 PM

So you're saying I have a chance? ;)

Well, that sucks Jojo

Jolenealaska

Yes and yes

ElendilTheTall

I can but beam mental hugs westwards

Jolenealaska