Mensa Annual Gathering & AGM

I planned to start early this morning, but when I opened my account, there were the postings from Tim, Helen, and Harvey for the last few weeks. Quick read-through, and now I'm up-to-date again.

Last weekend's Mensa Annual Gathering was fun. Interesting people to talk to and argue with, although there wasn't as much socialising as I'm accustomed to. The cocktail party on Friday night was highlighted by the making (by my dear pal Devon) of Long Island Iced Tea. If I have to confess to any failings, it would have to be a fanatical liking for this particularly alcoholic miracle. I made the second one myself - a cap of each liquor directly into my cocktail glass. Surprisingly, given that I hadn't eaten, this wasn't a seriously socially embarrassing mistake!

On Saturday we had the guest speakers I organised: Wally gave an excellent PowerPoint presentation on Alpine Hunting. Unfortunately there wasn't a proper screen available and we had to use a thin white sheet nailed to the (green) wall, so his gorgeous photos of the Southern Alps, including the fauna and flora, weren't shown to their best advantage. He was followed by Colin Craigie, who taught us some techniques to decode Cryptograms. These take up a large amount of space in our monthly newsletter, and I don't do them. Our third speaker was Simon Faulkner (spouse of my friend Anne), who is a Wind Engineer. He talked to us about the design and functions of wind turbines, with lots of lovely pictures. It was fascinating.

After lunch was free time, and lots of out-of-towners went off to see the sights - Te Papa was particularly popular. I stayed behind (I've been to Te Papa) and played a new game on PSP (that's Portable PlayStation, for those who, like me, are not into such things). We had 2 units supplied to us by Sony for trying out 'Echochrome', on the basis that we normally have a few teenagers at our annual gatherings. That wasn't so this year, and Sony had to make do with a few middle-aged women - not their target demographic, I'm sure! It took me about half an hour to figure out how to get the game loaded and started (opening the cassette door to put the game in was a particular challenge in itself). I never did work out how to choose which game I wanted to play, but I managed to stumble upon the tutorial, by pushing buttons at random, and then I sort of knew what I was trying to achieve. (I later brought the game home to let my 11-year-old grandson, Zac, have a go, but he found it too hard.) It was fun for a while, but I eventually got bored. Not addictive enough - I can spend hours playing online if I find something that grabs me.

We had a communal dinner on Saturday night, which was adequate, if not flash, and our AGM on Sunday morning. I had 2 reports to present: National Enquiries Officer (I answer the Mensaphone and emails from the website) and Wellington Area Coordinator. Some of us went out for lunch at the Silverspoon, Silverstream, afterwards, and that was it for another year. Roll on Summer Gathering 2009. The restaurant was great - fabulous food, and we got to sit outside without freezing or getting wet. I recommend it.

I also recommend the Silverstream pub, Hardware, as somewhere to go to watch the All Blacks stomp all over the Wallabies. It wasn't overly busy, but the crowd was there for the same reason as us - to cheer and whoop. A great evening by any standards.

Today I'm going to another meeting with Doug Wilkins, who is setting up the Pohutukawa Garret, a writing colony. It's an exciting concept, and I'd very much like the opportunity to have a Poetry Society presence in the complex. It's going to cost, in terms of a weekly rent, but it may be possible to get a grant for premises, if only I can figure out who to apply to.